prairie
prai.rie \'pre(*)r-e-\ n [F, fr. (assumed) VL prataria, fr. L pratum meadow; akin to L pr] often attrib avus crooked, MIr ra-th earthworks : a tract of grassland : as : a large area of level or rolling land in the Mississippi valley with ge nerally deep fertile soil, a cover of tall coarse grasses, and few trees : one of the dry treeless plateaus into which the prairies proper merge o n the west