Playa


From Encyclopedia Britannica (11th edition, 1910)

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Playa (a Spanish word meaning "shore"), the name applied in America to a level plain formed of the deposits of a river which has no outlet to the sea or a lake. If at seasons of high water a river floods any area and temporarily converts it into a lake, which subsequently dries up in hot weather, the tract thus left dry is called a playa. The barren Black Rock Desert in north-western Nevada, about zoo m. in length by 15 in breadth, is typical.