calabash

[ kal-uh-bash ]

noun

1. any of various gourds, especially the bottle gourd, Lagenaria siceraria.
2. a tropical American tree, Crescentia cujete, of the bignonia family, bearing large, gourdlike fruit.
3. any of several other plants having gourdlike fruit.
4. the fruit of any of these plants.
5. the dried, hollowed-out shell of any of these fruits, used as a container or utensil.
6. a bottle, kettle, ladle, etc., made from such a shell.
7. a tobacco pipe with a large bowl made from a calabash and usually having a curved stem.
8. a gourd used as a rattle, drum, etc.

calabash

/ ˈkæləˌbæʃ /

noun

1. Also calledcalabash tree a tropical American evergreen tree, Crescentia cujete, that produces large round gourds: family Bignoniaceae
2. another name for the bottle gourd
3. the gourd of either of these plants
4. the dried hollow shell of a gourd used as the bowl of a tobacco pipe, a bottle, rattle, etc
5. calabash nutmeg
   a tropical African shrub, Monodora myristica, whose oily aromatic seeds can be used as nutmegs: family Annonaceae

Word History and Origins

Origin of calabash¹

1590–1600; < Middle French calabasse < Spanish calabaza < Catalan carabaça, perhaps < Arabic qarʿah yābisah gourd (that is) dry

Word History and Origins

Origin of calabash¹

C17: from obsolete French calabasse, from Spanish calabaza, perhaps from Arabic qar`ah yābisah dry gourd, from qar`ah gourd + yābisah dry

Example Sentences

Oloya also explores the theme of modernity in a series of different sized and shaped gourds, the woody fruit of the calabash trees.

From BBC

She filled her calabash and ate more of the honey-and-millet cakes.

From Literature

With just two guitars, bass and calabash, the music is live, unadorned and pristinely recorded.

From New York Times

In one painting, a woman pours a liquid from a calabash, which is made up of pieces of brown 1,000 and 50 billion Zimbabwe dollar notes.

From Reuters

To start, she served a gazpacho made from chayote, the squash also known as christophine, in open calabash gourds, nestled on beds of rock salt.

From New York Times