loofah

[loo-fuh]

noun

Also called dishcloth gourd, rag gourd.
1. any of several tropical vines of the genus Luffa, of the gourd family, bearing large, elongated fruit.
2. the fruit of such a vine.
Also called vegetable sponge. the dried, fibrous interior of this fruit, used as a sponge.

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 of loofah

“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 of loofah

She had found a loofah, two sponges and some cakes of soap elaborately arranged in a pattern on the bathroom floor.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, September 16, 1914
Various
So Leslie picked up her chum's rough towels, her loofah and her verbena-scented soap.
The Boy with Wings
Berta Ruck
They simply haven't grasped how much soap and water and loofah go to that, in big towns.
The Boy with Wings
Berta Ruck

British Dictionary definitions for loofah

loofah

noun

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

Also called (esp US): loofa, luffa

Word Origin for loofah

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

1879, from Egyptian Arabic lufah, the name of the plant (Luffa ægyptiaca) with fibrous pods from which flesh-brushes are made.