"large plains of South America," 1704, from Spanish pampas, plural of pampa, from Quechua (Peru) pampa "a plain."
(from Spanish bolson, "large purse"), a semiarid, flat-floored desert valley or depression, usually centred on a playa or salt pan and entirely surrounded by hills or mountains. It is a type of basin characteristic of basin-and-range terrain. The term is usually applied only to certain basins of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico