cal|a|bash

cal|a|bash «KAL uh bash», noun.

1. a) a gourdlike fruit whose dried shell is used to make bottles, bowls, drums, rattles, or the like. b) Also, calabash tree. the tropical American tree that it grows on. It belongs to the bignonia family.

2. a bottle, bowl, drum, rattle, or the like, made from such a dried shell: »

All hands simply begin, at nightfall, drinking calabashes of the repulsive-looking liquid (Atlantic).

3. a) any one of various gourds, especially those whose necks are used for making tobacco pipes. b) any one of the vine plants of the gourd family bearing such gourds.

4. a pipe with a large bowl made from a gourd.

╂[< Middle French calabasse < Spanish calabaza, perhaps ultimately < Persian kharbuz melon]