buffalo chip
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈbʌf.ə.loʊ tʃɪp/
- US
:
trozo de estiércol de búfalo
- Buffalo chips.
Examples
-
He smelled the buffalo chips, the reek of a skunk, the fetid stench of beasts he had never seen.
Fiction book (1994) -
He signed, "A small fire of buffalo chips, with bacon and coffee cooking."
Fiction book (1995) -
Buffalo chips are a resource for fuel in the novel.
Academic text (1994) -
Wesley Buffalo chips.
Fiction book (1996) -
On the high sweltering divide between the Platte and the Pawnee, Yellow Legs turned loose the ponies to graze and went hunting rabbits, while Raven collected buffalo chips to cook them on.
Fiction book (1995) -
Buffalo chips are commonly used as fuel for campfires in many rural areas.
-
In some western states, travelers often collect buffalo chips to start a fire.
-
Native Americans traditionally used buffalo chips as a source of fuel for cooking.
Synonyms
17
9.9
A dried piece of cow dung used as fuel for fires
3
2.6
A solid waste that cows make and people use as fertilizer or fuel
1
9.6
A flat dried piece of cow dung that people burn as fuel or throw in games
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun is a straightforward compound of 'buffalo' (a bison) + 'chip' (a dried piece of dung), so its meaning — a dried piece of buffalo dung used as fuel — is directly derivable from the constituents. This follows normal noun–noun compounding patterns and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituent meanings.
Etymology
Buffalo chip comes from a simple picture: a hard, dry piece of buffalo dung called a chip. On the open plains, early settlers burned these dry pieces as 'fuel' for fires, so the phrase means 'a piece of dried buffalo dung'.