calabash

Meaning

Noun

• A tree (known as the calabash tree; Crescentia cujete) native to Central and South America, the West Indies, and southern Florida, bearing large, round fruit used to make containers (sense 3); the fruit of this tree.
• The bottle gourd (calabash vine, Lagenaria siceraria), believed to have originated in Africa, which is grown for its fruit that are used as a vegetable and to make containers (sense 3); the fruit of this plant.
• A container made from the mature, dried shell of the fruit of one of the above plants; also, a similarly shaped container made from some other material.
• A calabash and its contents; as much as fills such a container.
• A musical instrument, most commonly a drum or rattle, made from a calabash fruit.

Origin

• From French calebasse, from Spanish calabaza ("gourd; pumpkin"), possibly from Arabic قرع ("يَابِسَةٌ") or directly from its etymon Persian خربزه, possibly ultimately from Sanskrit त्रपुस ("colocynth fruit") (compare Persian تربز). The English word is cognate with Catalan carabassa, Galician cabaza, Occitan calebasso, carabasso, carbasso, Portuguese cabaça, Sicilian caravazza.