Pampas, vast grassy, treeless, nearly level plains in South America, in the Argentine State; they stretch from the lower Paraná to the S. of Buenos Ayres; afford rich pasture for large herds of wild horses and cattle, and are now in certain parts being brought under tillage.

Pam"pas (?), n. pl. [Sp., fr. Peruv. pampa a field, plain.] Vast plains in the central and southern part of the Argentine Republic in South America. The term is sometimes used in a wider sense for the plains extending from Bolivia to Southern Patagonia.

Pampas cat(Zoöl.), a South American wild cat (Felis pajeros). It has oblique transverse bands of yellow or brown. It is about three and a half feet long. Called also straw cat. -- Pampas deer(Zoöl.), a small, reddish-brown, South American deer (Cervus, or Blastocerus, campestris). -- Pampas grass(Bot.), a very tall ornamental grass (Gynerium argenteum) with a silvery-white silky panicle. It is a native of the pampas of South America.