def expand_variable_dicts(
    list_of_variable_dicts: 'List[Union[Dataset, OrderedDict]]',
) -> 'List[Mapping[Any, Variable]]':
    """Given a list of dicts with xarray object values, expand the values.

    Parameters
    ----------
    list_of_variable_dicts : list of dict or Dataset objects
        Each value for the mappings must be of the following types:
        - an xarray.Variable
        - a tuple `(dims, data[, attrs[, encoding]])` that can be converted in
          an xarray.Variable
        - or an xarray.DataArray

    Returns
    -------
    A list of ordered dictionaries corresponding to inputs, or coordinates from
    an input's values. The values of each ordered dictionary are all
    xarray.Variable objects.
    """
    from .dataarray import DataArray
    from .dataset import Dataset

    var_dicts = []

    for variables in list_of_variable_dicts:
        if isinstance(variables, Dataset):
            var_dicts.append(variables.variables)
            continue

        # append coords to var_dicts before appending sanitized_vars,
        # because we want coords to appear first
        sanitized_vars = OrderedDict()  # type: OrderedDict[Any, Variable]

        for name, var in variables.items():
            if isinstance(var, DataArray):
                # use private API for speed
                coords = var._coords.copy()
                # explicitly overwritten variables should take precedence
                coords.pop(name, None)
                var_dicts.append(coords)

            var = as_variable(var, name=name)
            sanitized_vars[name] = var

        var_dicts.append(sanitized_vars)

    return var_dicts