1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Playa

PLAYA (a Spanish word meaning “shore”), the name applied in America to a level plain formed of the deposits of a river which has no outlet to the sea or a lake. If at seasons of high water a river floods any area and temporarily converts it into a lake, which subsequently dries up in hot weather, the tract thus left dry is called a playa. The barren Black Rock Desert in north-western Nevada, about 100 m. in length by 15 in breadth, is typical.