English

Noun

resaca ‎(plural resacas)

1. A dry river bed, a former channel of the Rio Grande, found in the southern half of Cameron County, Texas.
   • 1911 July, D. W. Stookey, Land Drainage, in The Clay-worker:

     The drainage of the bottoms south of the Arroyo Colorado is inadequately provided for by broad, shallow depressions between the resacas.

Spanish

Etymology

Back-formation from resacar.

Noun

resaca f ‎(plural resacas)

1. undertow, surf, backwash (outgoing wave)
2. (commerce) redraft, redrawing
3. hangover (illness caused by a previous bout of heavy drinking)
4. silt deposit
5. (Mexico, US) dry stream bed; resaca

Related terms

• resacar

Descendants

• English: resaca
• French: ressac
• Italian: risacca
• Portuguese: ressaca