alameda

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The Word of the Day for February 23 is:

alameda   \al-uh-MEE-duh\   noun
     : a public promenade bordered with trees 

Example sentence:
     Artist Diego Rivera visited Mexico City's picturesque 
alameda as a young boy, and he later wove the park's tree-lined 
pathways into one of his murals. 

Did you know?
     Residents of the American Southwest may remember 
the "alamo" in "alameda." This "alamo" is not the 18th-century 
Franciscan mission that was the site of a key battle in the 
fight for Texas independence, however, but the Spanish name for 
the poplar tree (the mission , the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, 
was named for the trees that grew near it). Spanish speakers 
used "alamo" as the basis for their word "alameda," which can 
name either a grove of poplars or a tree-lined avenue. English 
speakers found "alameda" so appropriate for a shady public 
promenade that they borrowed it as a generic term in the late 
1700s. And yes, the Spanish "alameda" and nearby poplar trees 
also contributed to the naming of the city of Alameda, 
California.