potreron.

1822 M. Graham Jrnl. 24 Sept. in Captain's Wife (1993) 121 The horses, and other animals, are once more sent into the potreros to grass.

1848 J. A. Sutter New Helvetia Diary (MS.) 7 Mar. 6 Men have been sent from the Race, on acct. having no tools, employed them to get the small potrero repaired.

1886 T. S. Van Dyke Southern Calif. viii. 106 When, in the heat of day, one comes to some little potrero where pine-clad hills inclose a soft green meadow, [etc.].

1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 19 Mar. 214/2 He was found to be capable of milking exceptionally large numbers of untamed cows, which were driven straight from a ‘potrero’ into a ‘corral’.

1960 G. J. Butland Lat. Amer. xx. 287 This is the Uruguayan pastoral region par excellence; a land of cattle and sheep estancias with paddocks or potreros fenced and managed to secure the best seasonal use of the grass.

1992 C. McCarthy All Pretty Horses (1993) ii. 102 Walking out to the potrero before the stars were down, eating a cold tortilla..and carrying their fortyfoot maguey catchropes coiled over their shoulders.

1872 J. G. Bourke Diary 3 Dec. (2003) I. 31 Hills break away in potreros.

1953 B. P. Dutton Hewett's Pajarito Plateau (ed. 2) iii. iii. 104 The long, narrow potrero bounding the canyon on the north is entirely cut out for a distance of nearly a mile, thus throwing into one squarish open park the width of two small canyons and the formerly intervening mesa.

1966 in A. F. Bandelier Southwestern Jrnls. Gloss. 397 Potrero, pastureland; in New Mexico, a tongue of high ground.

1999 Ventura (Calif.) County Star (Nexis) 30 Dec. b6 This potrero has an additional attraction: A seasonal spring that pools in front of a shallow cave at the base of the cliff.