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).]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.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.Tex. abbreviation for 1. (Placename) Texan 2. (Placename) Texas Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014