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western

western

10 5.2
A sandwich made with an omelet and fillings like ham, onion, and green pepper
  • noun
  • /ˈwɛstərn/
  • US
translation icon : sándwich con tortilla
  • It reminded him of Dodge City, from the westerns he watched as a kid.

Examples

  • He ordered a hot western at the café, and it quickly became his favorite meal.

  • For lunch, she enjoyed a delicious western sandwich filled with ham, onions, and peppers.

  • Or perhaps it was that great American movie genre they had been watching, the Western.

    Blog text (21)
  • Honey, the last Western I saw was an omelet.

  • This man knows his Westerns.

  • Will Wright's Six-Guns and Society: A Structural Study of the Western is an excellent example.

    Academic text (1990)
  • During the picnic, they served a western made with fresh vegetables and eggs between two slices of bread.

Synonyms

western sandwich
vswestern
  • US
2.8

A sandwich with an egg omelet, ham, onions, and peppers between slices of bread

is the same sandwich but named in a shorter alternative form

Idioms

Nothing important or unusual is happening now after recent activity

Compounds

28 3.4

Countries in Europe, North America, and South America that have similar ways of life, governments, and economies

Culture, ideas, and social systems of Western Europe and North America that began in ancient Greece and Rome

A group of shared ideas, customs, and ways of living from Europe and North America

7 3.2

Music from the southern United States often played on guitar or fiddle with simple tunes

The half of the Earth that includes North and South America

4 6.7

A remaining wall of the ancient Jewish temple in Jerusalem where people pray

A state in the west of Australia with Perth as its capital

A low-budget Western film made in Italy in the 1960s and 1970s

The part of the United States west of the Mississippi River, including California and Nevada

1 2.2

A folded egg dish with ham, peppers and onions

western red cedar
  • Specialized
1 5.8

A large evergreen tree with reddish durable wood used for building and furniture

western lowland gorilla
  • South African
1 5.5

A large ape from the forests of western Central Africa that is the most common gorilla

1 4.1

A saddle with a high horn at the front that riders use and often decorate

A person or group from outside Europe and North America

A vigorous climbing plant from Western Australia with dense clusters of bright pink-purple flowers

5.9

A tool with a head that has sharp edges on both sides used for chopping wood

Western balsam poplar
  • Specialized
7.9

A tall tree from western North America with dark glossy leaves and silvery or rusty undersides

Western birch
  • Specialized
8.2

A tree with brownish bark that grows in western parts of the United States

western big-eared bat
  • Specialized
8.4

A bat with very large ears that lives in western North America

A wildflower from western North America that lives many years and has shiny yellow flowers

A branch of the Christian church based in Rome led by the pope and bishops

western chimpanzee
  • Specialized
6.9

A type of chimpanzee that lives in West Africa and has lighter faces and different genes from other chimpanzees

A small tree or bush with small sour dark fruit used for jam and eaten by birds

7.0

A tick in the western United States that bites people and spreads Lyme disease

A wild bush that produces long black berries and grows in western North America

A small, slender snake that lives underground in the western United States deserts and has very poor sight

Western box turtle
  • Specialized
6.6

A land turtle with a shell that closes living on prairies in the western United States and northern Mexico

western dewberry
  • Specialized
8.7

A wild blackberry bush with long black fruit that grows in western North America

A large venomous rattlesnake with diamond-shaped marks on its back from the United States and Mexico

A large snake that has venom, a rattle, and diamond markings that lives in the US Southwest and Mexico

The western part of the Roman Empire after its split in 395 that ended in 476

western fence lizard
  • Specialized
8.1

A common scaly reptile in western North America that basks on rocks and logs

Western concert flute
  • Specialized
4.7

A metal or wooden instrument held sideways and played by blowing across a hole used in orchestras and bands

A snake with venom and red, yellow, black bands that lives in southwest US and Central America

A wild small apple tree with sweet-smelling pink flowers

western gray squirrel
  • Specialized
5.4

A large gray tree squirrel with a bushy tail that lives in western United States forests

A group of islands off the west coast of Scotland, also called the Outer Hebrides, including Lewis and Harris

western kingbird
  • Specialized
8.9

A large western North American bird with a pale grey back, yellow belly, and black tail that catches insects

9.9

A small wild plant in western United States with white flowers arranged in a spiral

western hemlock
  • Specialized
7.4

A tall evergreen tree from western North America that provides soft wood for building

A thorny small tree with deep roots that grows in dry areas and has sweet pods used as animal feed

western holly fern
  • Specialized
8.4

A North American plant with thick, shiny, sharp-edged leaves that grows in mountains

A group of over 500 islands off Scotland's west coast called the Outer Hebrides

western larch
  • Specialized
8.2

A tall North American tree with needles that turn golden in autumn and long cones, valued for strong wood

A small tree from the western coast of North America with groups of red berries

A plant with soft white leaves that smell strong and lives for many years in the southwestern United States

A small toad with smooth tough skin that hides and lives in central and western North America

9.9

A group of related languages spoken in parts of Southeast Asia and the western Pacific

western meadowlark
  • Specialized
9.8

A medium-sized bird with a bright yellow chest that sings in open grasslands

A birch tree from the western United States with brown bark and thin branches

A venomous snake with a rattle on its tail that lives in western North America

western ragweed
  • Specialized
9.9

A tough wild plant with creeping roots that grows in dry, rocky places in the US southwest and Mexico

A small salamander with a red stripe on its back that lives in moist Pacific coast forests

A shrub from the western United States with bright pink or crimson flowers that grows in dense groups

A plant that lives many years in western North America with large hairy white flowers

western pipistrel
  • Specialized
9.9

A small bat from western North America that eats insects and lives in dry areas

A poisonous shrub on the west coast of North America that causes an itchy skin rash when touched

7.7

A plant that lives for one year with bright red flowers that grows in California

A small plant from Europe and Asia with white or pink flowers in a cluster at the top

A warm reddish-brown paint or stain used to finish wood

A region in northwest Africa on the Atlantic coast that many countries disagree about and that Morocco mostly controls

A sandwich with an egg omelet, ham, onions, and peppers between slices of bread

A small plant with white flowers that grows on moist slopes in western North America

9.9

A split in the Catholic Church from 1378 to 1417 when rival popes ruled from Rome and Avignon

A thin North American snake with yellow or red stripes that is not poisonous and often lives near water

The western part of ancient Rome that lasted from 395 to 476

Western Samoa
  • Literature
4.9

The former name of the country now called Samoa in the South Pacific

A small bush that makes sweet red, black, or yellow fruits you can eat

A North American plant that lives for many years with silvery leaves and purple flowers in grasslands and open woods

8.6

A small lizard with smooth scales found in open areas of western North America

A plant from western North America with bright orange yellow flowers

A grass that lives many years in western North America and that farm animals eat

A fast lizard with dark markings that is active in the day and lives in dry western areas

Surface Forms

western singular
westerns plural

Morphology

western = western (opaque) = west + ern

Although the adjective 'western' is morphologically clear, the noun sense meaning a sandwich is a lexicalized food name that is not predictable from 'west' + '-ern'.

Etymology

A helpful way to remember the sandwich western is to think of the 'Western' or 'Denver' omelet of eggs, ham, onions and green pepper, which was popular in the American West, so the egg sandwich took the name 'western'.