Las Cruces
7
3.8
- proper noun
- /læs ˈkruːsɛs/
- The New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum is located in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
- Las Cruces, N.M.
- Las Cruces, NM
- Mexico, Las Cruces
Examples
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Awlaki was born in Las Cruces in 1971 to parents who had immigrated some years earlier from Yemen.
Academic text (2010) -
Sky man, like you, showed up in Las Cruces, New Mexico a couple of days ago and killed a few men.
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This is one of the most heated rivalry games in the nation, and it will be played right here in the city of Las Cruces.
Blog text (13) -
It will be a battle for the city of Las Cruces this Friday.
Blog text (13) -
The Las Cruces Bulldawgs have a 7-1 record overall and are also undefeated in district play.
Blog text (13) -
Tombaugh's telescope, 1949: Clyde W. Tombaugh recorded seeing six or eight rectangular lights in the sky above Las Cruces, New Mexico, and on another occasion several green fireballs.
Blog text (13) -
We went to Las Cruces every year for 14 years running.
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I want you to take Emily to Las Cruces after we leave tomorrow.
Surface Forms
Morphology
Las + Cruces
This is a conventionalized place name (Spanish for 'the crosses') whose literal constituents do not convey the referential meaning 'a city in southern New Mexico'. Even if a learner knows the words 'las' and 'cruces', they would not be able to derive the specific city referent or location from those constituents alone, so the expression is idiomatic in its referential use.
Etymology
Las Cruces may come from the Spanish words las and cruces, which mean 'the crosses'. One popular story says travelers or settlers put many wooden crosses by the old road or on graves, so people began to call the place Las Cruces.