- Also called: calabash tree a tropical American evergreen tree, Crescentia cujete, that produces large round gourds: family Bignoniaceae
- the gourd of either of these plants
- the dried hollow shell of a gourd used as the bowl of a tobacco pipe, a bottle, rattle, etc
- calabash nutmeg ⇒ a tropical African shrub, Monodora myristica, whose oily aromatic seeds can be used as nutmegs: family Annonaceae
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
cal•a•bash /ˈkæləˌbæʃ/USA pronunciation
n.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- Plant Biology[countable] a tree that has large, rounded gourdlike fruit.
- Plant Biology[countable] the fruit of any of these plants.
- Plant Biology[uncountable] the dried, hollowed-out shell of any of these fruits, used to make the bowl of a tobacco pipe.
cal•a•bash
(kal′ə bash′),USA pronunciation n.
- Plant Biologyany of various gourds, esp. the bottle gourd, Lagenaria siceraria.
- Plant Biologya tropical American tree, Crescentia cujete, of the bignonia family, bearing large, gourdlike fruit.
- Plant Biologyany of several other plants having gourdlike fruit.
- Plant Biologythe fruit of any of these plants.
- Plant Biologythe dried, hollowed-out shell of any of these fruits, used as a container or utensil.
- a bottle, kettle, ladle, etc., made from such a shell.
- a tobacco pipe with a large bowl made from a calabash and usually having a curved stem.
- a gourd used as a rattle, drum, etc.
- Arabic qar‘ah yābisah gourd (that is) dry
- Catalan carabaça, perh.
- Spanish calabaza
- Middle French calabasse
- 1590–1600
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
calabash /ˈkæləˌbæʃ/ n
'calabash' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):