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

The woman who was the spokesperson held out a calabash, a hollowed out gourd traditionally used to hold the cutters' instruments.

From The Daily Beast

The timing of Calabash, as everyone here seems to acknowledge, throws that debate into sharp relief.

From The Daily Beast

It's in this spirit that Calabash surely puts the festival back into the term literary festival.

From The Daily Beast

I handed him the calabash, and the liquor pleasing his palate, he drank it all off.

From Project Gutenberg

Of this a great calabash was brought in, and poured out into black bowls made of soft and porous clay.

From Project Gutenberg

The baobal is very distinct from the calabash-tree of America, with which it has been confounded by Father Labat.

From Project Gutenberg

A couple of spades, a trowel and a calabash were their only tools, but our adventurer was a knowing man, and "knowledge is power."

From Project Gutenberg

It is now no longer the head of the player that furnishes the resonance, but the substituted calabash.

From Project Gutenberg