The Bad Lands
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
In America, the Mauvaises Terres of the early French settlers west of Missouri; extensive tracts of sterile, alkali hills, rocky, desolate, and almost destitute of vegetation, in South Dakota.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “The Bad Lands” mean?
In America, the Mauvaises Terres of the early French settlers west of Missouri; extensive tracts of sterile, alkali hills, rocky, desolate, and almost destitute of vegetation, in South Dakota.
Is “The Bad Lands” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.