prickly pear
Word forms: plural prickly pears
countable noun
A prickly pear is a kind of cactus that has round fruit with prickles on. The fruit, which you can eat, is also called a prickly pear.
prickly pear in British English
noun
1.
any of various tropical cacti of the genus Opuntia, having flattened or cylindrical spiny joints and oval fruit that is edible in some species
See also cholla, nopal (sense 2)2.
the fruit of any of these plants
prickly pear in American English
US
1.
a.
any of various cactuses (genus Opuntia) having large, flat, oval stem joints and edible fruits: many species have barbed spines
b.
the pear-shaped fruit of such a plant
2.
nopal
Image ofprickly pear
© Slawomir Zelasko, shutterstock