loofah
[loo-fuh]
- Also called dishcloth gourd, rag gourd.
- any of several tropical vines of the genus Luffa, of the gourd family, bearing large, elongated fruit.
- the fruit of such a vine.
- Also called vegetable sponge. the dried, fibrous interior of this fruit, used as a sponge.
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Also loo·fa, luffa.
Origin of loofah
1860–65; < New Latin Luffa the genus < Arabic lūf
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for loofah
Contemporary Examples
“Intercourse felt, often, like shoving a loofah into a mason jar,” she writes, for example.
Speed Read: Lena Dunham’s Most Shocking Confessions From ‘Not That Kind of Girl’Kevin Fallon
September 26, 2014
Historical Examples
She had found a loofah, two sponges and some cakes of soap elaborately arranged in a pattern on the bathroom floor.
So Leslie picked up her chum's rough towels, her loofah and her verbena-scented soap.
The Boy with WingsBerta Ruck
They simply haven't grasped how much soap and water and loofah go to that, in big towns.
The Boy with WingsBerta Ruck
loofah
- the fibrous interior of the fruit of the dishcloth gourd, which is dried, bleached, and used as a bath sponge or for scrubbing
- another name for dishcloth gourd
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Also called (esp US): loofa, luffa
Word Origin
C19: from New Latin luffa, from Arabic lūf
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for loofah
n.
1879, from Egyptian Arabic lufah, the name of the plant (Luffa ægyptiaca) with fibrous pods from which flesh-brushes are made.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper