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n. An assembly plant in Mexico, especially one along the border between the United States and Mexico, to which foreign materials and parts are shipped and from which the finished product is returned to the original market. [American Spanish, place where the miller's fee is paid, maquiladora, from Spanish maquila, portion received by the miller in return for milling one's grain, from Old Spanish, from Arabic makīla, measured, measure of capacity, feminine passive participle of kāla, to measure; see kwl in the Appendix of Semitic roots.] |
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