si·er·ra

(sē-ĕr′ə)

1. A rugged range of mountains having an irregular or jagged profile.

2. Any of several mackerels of the genus Scomberomorus, especially S. sierra of warm Pacific coastal waters of the Americas.

[Spanish, saw, sierra, from Latin serra, saw.]

si·er′ran adj.

Word History: In English, the word sierra is probably best known for the names of certain mountain ranges, such as the Sierra Nevada (in Spanish, the "snowy sierra") of Spain, the similarly named Sierra Nevada of Eastern California, and the Sierra Madre (the "mother sierra") of Mexico. The English word sierra, "rugged range of mountains having an irregular or jagged profile," is a borrowing of Spanish sierra. In Spanish, sierra literally means "saw," but the word is also used in the extended meaning "line or group of mountains with a jagged profile." As a further example of how a word meaning "saw" can become a word meaning "mountain range," we need only mention the Sawtooth Mountains of central Idaho.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

sierra

(sɪˈɛərə)

(Physical Geography) a range of mountains with jagged peaks, esp in Spain or America

[C17: from Spanish, literally: saw, from Latin serra; see serrate]

siˈerran adj

Sierra

(sɪˈɛərə)

(Telecommunications) communications a code word for the letter s

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

si•er•ra

(siˈɛr ə)

n., pl. -ras.

a chain of hills or mountains, the peaks of which suggest the teeth of a saw.

[1590–1600; < Sp: literally, saw]

si·er·ra

(sē-ĕr′ə)

A high, rugged range of mountains having an irregular outline somewhat like the teeth of a saw.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	sierra - a range of mountains (usually with jagged peaks and irregular outline)
	2.	sierra - a Spanish mackerel of western North America Scomberomorus sierra Spanish mackerel - any of several large marine food fishes of the genus Scomberomorus

Translations

Salme

Sakari

sierra

n → Sierra f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

"It seems to me, Sancho- and it is impossible it can be otherwise- that some strayed traveller must have crossed this sierra and been attacked and slain by footpads, who brought him to this remote spot to bury him."

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Not content with manufacturing the electricity for his street railways in the old-fashioned way, in power-houses, Daylight organized the Sierra and Salvador Power Company.

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Here, in Sierra Vista, which was the name of Judge Scott's place, White Fang quickly began to make himself at home.

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From the Sierra Nevada to Nebraska, and from the Yellowstone River in the north to the Colorado upon the south, is a region of desolation and silence.

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It proved to be a great sierra, or ridge, of immense height, running parallel to the course of the river, swelling by degrees to lofty peaks, but the outline gashed by deep and precipitous ravines.

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On leaving Omaha, it passes along the left bank of the Platte River as far as the junction of its northern branch, follows its southern branch, crosses the Laramie territory and the Wahsatch Mountains, turns the Great Salt Lake, and reaches Salt Lake City, the Mormon capital, plunges into the Tuilla Valley, across the American Desert, Cedar and Humboldt Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, and descends, via Sacramento, to the Pacific--its grade, even on the Rocky Mountains, never exceeding one hundred and twelve feet to the mile.

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The Sierra or ridge of the Black Hills, in fact, forms the dividing line between the waters of the Missouri and those of the Arkansas and the Mississippi, and gives rise to the Cheyenne, the Little Missouri, and several tributary streams of the Yellowstone.

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If he wasn't great, would he have charge of the law business of the Sierra Mills, of the Erston Land Syndicate, of the Berkeley Consolidated, of the Oakland, San Leandro, and Pleasanton Electric?

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The Sierra de la Ventana is visible at an immense distance; and a Gaucho told me that he was once riding with an Indian a few miles to the north of the Rio Colorado when the Indian commenced making the same loud noise which is usual at the first sight of the distant tree, putting his hand to his head, and then pointing in the direction of the Sierra.

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But then the Nautilus swerved again, and sought the lowest depth of a submarine valley which is between this Cape and Sierra Leone on the African coast.

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I believe it would not have been always comfortable to know Mendoza outside of his books; he was rather a terrible person; he was one of the Spanish invaders of Italy, and is known in Italian history as the Tyrant of Sierra. But at my distance of time and place I could safely revel in his friendship, and as an author I certainly found him a most charming companion.

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We are at the mercy of very variable winds; but I should think myself fortunate were we to strike it between Sierra Leone and Portendick.

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