calabash

American  

[kal-uh-bash] / ˈkæl əˌbæʃ /

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.

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calabash British  

/ ˈkæləˌbæʃ /

noun

1. Also called: calabash 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. a tropical African shrub, Monodora myristica, whose oily aromatic seeds can be used as nutmegs: family Annonaceae

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Etymology

Origin of calabash

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

Explanation

A calabash is either an evergreen tree that produces round gourds or one of the gourds themselves. Nouns that travel through many languages on their way to English often stand for useful objects, and this one's no exception: it's a gourd-producing tree that is practical indeed. The tree and the gourd are both called calabashes, and people have used calabashes for musical instruments, pitchers, and many kinds of containers. The calabash must be dried before it can be used as anything. This word is originally Persian but traveled through French and Spanish on its way to English.

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 • Feb. 10, 2024

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

From New York Times • Nov. 12, 2021

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 • Sep. 16, 2021

After squeezing the slice of lime that floated in a calabash bowl of warm water, I pulled my hands from the gourd shell and instinctively pressed them to my nose, inhaling the tropical perfume.

From Washington Post • Aug. 12, 2019

They put the animals’ heads in front of their houses in calabash bowls, to keep away the kibaazu, they said.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver