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

Example Sentences

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

The Arugba, also known as the 'calabash carrier', has a large calabash on her head underneath a colourful veil.

From BBC

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