Mescalero
/ˌmeskəˈlerō
/noun (plural same or Mescaleros)
1A member of an American Indian people of New Mexico.The Mescaleros, like the Jicarilla, are an Eastern Apache tribe, with many cultural influences from the Southern Great Plains....
- Before colonization the Mescalero lived in what are now south-central New Mexico, the Davis Mountains of Texas, and the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
- In 1862, there were fewer than a thousand Mescaleros living in scattered bands between the Rio Grande and the Pecos.
2The Athabaskan (Apache) language of the Mescalero.The Southwestern Athapaskan language, sometimes called Apachean, has seven dialects: Navajo, Western Apache, Chiricahua, Mescalero, Jicarilla, Lipan, and Kiowa-Apache.
adjective
Relating to the Mescalero or their language.Other campgrounds are maintained by the Mescalero Apache, the San Carlos Apache, and the White Mountain Apache....
- In 1863-1864, under Colonel Christopher ‘Kit ‘Carson, the troops rounded up Mescalero Apaches and Navajos and confined them on a bleak reservation far from their homelands.’
- Now we have a memorial that is a fitting tribute to the enduring suffering of the Navajo from 1863 to 1868, and to the Mescalero Apache who shared their plight.
Origin
Spanish, literally 'people of the mescal', with reference to their traditional use of the flesh of the mescal plant as part of their staple diet.