Tex·as (t?k?s?s) Abbr. TX or Tex. A state of the south-central United States. It was admitted as the 28th state in 1845. Explored by the Spanish in the 1500s and 1600s, the region became a province of Mexico in the early 1800s. Texans won their independence in 1836 after a gallant but losing stand at the Alamo in February and a defeat of Santa Anna’s forces at the Battle of San Jacinto (April 21). Denied admission as a state by antislavery forces in the US Congress, the leaders of Texas formed an independent republic that lasted until 1845. Austin is the capital.Tex?an adj. & n.tex·as (t?k?s?s)n. A structure on a river steamboat containing the pilothouse and the officers’ quarters.[After Texas (from the fact that steamboat cabins were named after states and the officers’ quarters were the largest).]American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.Texas (?t?ks?s) n (Placename) a state of the southwestern US, on the Gulf of Mexico: the second largest state; part of Mexico from 1821 to 1836, when it was declared an independent republic; joined the US in 1845; consists chiefly of a plain, with a wide flat coastal belt rising up to the semiarid Sacramento and Davis Mountains of the southwest; a major producer of cotton, rice, and livestock; the chief US producer of oil and gas; a leading world supplier of sulphur. Capital: Austin. Pop: 22 118 509 (2003 est). Area: 678 927 sq km (262 134 sq miles). Abbreviation: Tex or TX (with zip code)Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014tex?as (?t?k s?s) n. a deckhouse on a river steamboat for the accommodation of officers. [1855?60, Amer.; allegedly so called from the practice of naming steamboat cabins after states] Tex?as (?t?k s?s) n. a state in the S United States. 20,851,820; 267,339 sq. mi. (692,410 sq. km). Cap.: Austin. Abbr.: Tex., TX Tex?an, adj., n. Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.