Skip to main content
calabash

calabash

1 9.5
A hard dry gourd shell used as a bowl or musical instrument
  • noun
  • /ˈkæl.ə.bæʃ/
translation icon : calabaza
  • The top half of the calabash symbolizes Lisa, the male Heaven, associated with day, heat, fire, fatherhood, and virility.
  • calabash bowl
  • decorated calabashes
  • smashing a calabash

Examples

  • We stopped to share a calabash of palm wine with a group of village elders.

  • In the right, the angweta holds the neck of a calabash of palm wine that she will pour for the fwa.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Later she discovered that her children didn't know what a calabash was.

    Academic text (2007)
  • When that particular calabash wore out, another would be substituted for it.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Men carry the calabashes of beer to the king on their heads.

    Academic text (1990)
  • For the prologue, he recounts the story of the woman with the calabash.

    Academic text (2008)
  • Their favorite story was about a turtle who steals a calabash from the gods that contains all the wisdom in the world.

    Academic text (2007)
  • The dancer was accompanied by four young girls carrying mirrors and decorated calabashes.

    Academic text (1998)
  • Men carry the calabashes of beer to the king on their heads.

  • The dancer was accompanied by four young girls carrying mirrors and decorated calabashes.

Synonyms

jar
vscalabash
207 1.0

A wide glass or clay container for storing food

is made from a dried plant shell rather than glass or pottery
gourd
vscalabash
3 6.6

A hard-shelled fruit that is dried and used as a bowl or decoration

is a single hard-shelled type often formed into containers or musical pipes

Compounds

A smoking pipe with a curved stem and a large bowl made from a calabash gourd

A tropical evergreen tree that grows large round fruits used as containers or bowls

A tropical plant that makes small apple-sized fruits with sweet edible pulp

How Big

vat
42 3.6
barrel
164 1.0
calabash
1 9.5
bowl
370 1.0
cup
846 1.0

Surface Forms

calabash singular
calabashes plural

Etymology

Calabash comes from the Spanish and Portuguese word calabaza, which means 'gourd' or 'pumpkin'. People long ago dried the hard shell and used it as a bottle, bowl, or drum, so calabash today means a dried gourd used as a container or musical instrument.