piassava

plural piassavas · alternative piacaba · alternative piasaba · alternative piassaba · alternative piasava · alternative pissaba

1. countableuncountableA fibrous product of two Brazilian palm trees (Attalea funifera and Leopoldinia piassaba), formerly used in making brooms and for other purposes.

   Common brushes and brooms made of bristles, rice straw, piassava, and other animal or vegetable stuffs; also mounted with wood or iron, not colored, without polish or varnish:

   1893, United States Congressional serial set, page 150

   3 more examples

   In Santa Cruz, for instance, where laborers are scarce and the means of communication bad, the gatherers of piassava are paid at the rate of from 2 to 3 milreis (the milreis is equivalent to about 30 cents) per arroba; [...]. The British syndicate above referred to uses [...] steel cleaves for cutting the piassava into uniform strips;

   1909, Bulletin of the International Bureau of the American Republics, page 678

   Piassava Industry. At a recent meeting of the West African section of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce a letter was read from the colonial secretary of Gambia inclosing the following report on the development of the piassava industry ...

   1914, Daily Consular and Trade Reports, page 972

   The revised export-tariff schedule provides for Increased duties on palm kernels, palm oil, ginger, groundnuts, and piassava, and coffee, cocoa, benneseed, and kola nuts were made subject to export duties for the first time.

   1951, Foreign Commerce Weekly

2. countableuncountableEither of these two trees.