mescal

UK: /mɛˈskæl/ US: (me skal′)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

mes•cal  (me skal′), n. 

1. Wine an intoxicating beverage distilled from the fermented juice of certain species of agave.
2. Plant Biology any agave yielding this spirit.
3. Plant Biology Also called peyote. either of two species of spineless, dome-shaped cactus, Lophophora williamsii or L. diffusa, of Texas and northern Mexico, yielding the hallucinogen peyote.

• Nahuatl mexcalli intoxicant distilled from agave (perh. equivalent. to me(tl) maguey + (i)xcalli something cooked)
• Mexican Spanish mescal, mezcal, mexcal
• 1695–1705, American.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

mescal / mɛˈskæl/ noun

1. Also called: peyote a spineless globe-shaped cactus, Lophophora williamsii, of Mexico and the southwestern US. Its button-like tubercles (mescal buttons) contain mescaline and are chewed by certain Native American tribes for their hallucinogenic effects
2. a colourless alcoholic spirit distilled from the fermented juice of certain agave plants

Etymology: 19th Century: from American Spanish, from Nahuatl mexcalli the liquor, from metl maguey + ixcalli stew