peyote

noun

pey·​o·​te pā-ˈō-tē 

variants or less commonly peyotl

pā-ˈō-tᵊl 

1

plural peyote or peyotes : a small, low, spineless cactus (Lophophora williamsii) of Mexico and southern Texas that has bluish- to grayish-green dome-shaped stems having jointed disk-shaped tubercles with tufts of woolly white hairs and that contains psychoactive alkaloids

Huichols speak of the peyote they gather as the flesh of deer, and of the tap root they customarily leave in the ground as its "bones," from which new plants will grow …

—Stacy B. Schaefer and Peter T. Furst

Peyote, a small, mescaline-laden cactus that grows in Mexico and Texas …

—The Wilson Quarterly

called also mescal

2

: a hallucinogenic drug containing mescaline that is derived from the dried disk-shaped tops of the peyote cactus and is used especially in the religious ceremonies of some Indigenous American peoples

In my childhood home, the word "medicine" is how we referred to peyote. … At a very young age, I understood the sacredness of this medicine …

—Dawn D. Davis

called also mescal

see also peyote button

Illustration of peyote

• peyote 1

Examples of peyote in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the early aughts, scientists dated two specimens of peyote, found in a cave near the Rio Grande, at more than five thousand years old. —Michael Pollan, New Yorker, 19 May 2025

This category also includes heroin, LSD, methamphetamines and peyote. —Greta Cross, USA Today, 18 Apr. 2025

Those trying to protect peyote disagree on whether it should be grown outside its natural habitat. —Deepa Bharath and Jessie Wardarski, Los Angeles Times, 28 Dec. 2024

Climate & Environment Why are some Native Americans fighting efforts to decriminalize peyote? March 29, 2020 Crutcher, a teacher and former natural resources director for the tribes, remembers employees in the maintenance building asking for cancer screenings. —Gabe Stern, Los Angeles Times, 10 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Mexican Spanish peyote, from Nahuatl peyotl peyote cactus

First Known Use

1849, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Phrases Containing peyote

• peyote button

Kids Definition

peyote

noun

pey·​o·​te pā-ˈōt-ē 

1

: a drug containing mescaline that causes hallucinations and is obtained from the dried round and flattened tops of a small spineless cactus of the southwestern U.S. and Mexico

2

: the cactus from which peyote is obtained

called also mescal

Medical Definition

peyote

noun

pey·​o·​te pā-ˈōt-ē 

variants also peyotl

-ˈōt-ᵊl 

1

: a small, low, spineless cactus (Lophophora williamsii) of Mexico and southern Texas that has bluish- to grayish-green dome-shaped stems having jointed disk-shaped tubercles with tufts of woolly white hairs and that contains psychoactive alkaloids

called also mescal

2

: a hallucinogenic drug containing mescaline that is derived from the dried disk-shaped tops of the peyote cactus and is used especially in the religious ceremonies of some Indigenous American peoples

called also mescal

see also peyote button