Yerba
Origin
From yerba maté
Full definition of yerba
Noun
yerba
(usually uncountable; plural yerbas)- , a species of holly native to southern South America; or the dried leaves and twigs of this plant, used to make the caffeine-rich beverage mate.
- 1839, Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle Chapter , The storehouses at Talcahuano had been burst open, and great bags of cotton, yerba, and other valuable merchandise were scattered on the shore.
- 1854, P. L. Simmonds, The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Chapter , This was the place at which the leaves and small sprigs of the yerba tree, when brought from the woods, were first scorched--fire being set to the logs of wood within it.
- 1910, Various, Argentina From A British Point Of View Chapter , His preparations for breakfast are simple, and he is ready to start out after half an hour spent in imbibing a few mates full of yerba infusion.