calabash

Etymology

From French calebasse, from Spanish calabaza (“gourd; pumpkin”), possibly from Arabic قَرْعَةٌ يَابِسَةٌ (qarʕatun yābisatun, “dry gourd”) or directly from its etymon Persian خربزه (xarboze, “melon”), possibly ultimately from Sanskrit त्रपुस (trapusa, “colocynth fruit”) (compare Persian تربزه (tarboze, “watermelon”)). The English word is cognate with Catalan carabassa (“pumpkin; orange colour”), Galician cabaza (“gourd, pumpkin, squash; calabash (container)”), Occitan calebasso, carabasso, carbasso, Portuguese cabaça (“gourd; calabash (container)”), Sicilian caravazza (and caramazza).

noun

1. 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.
   As we were absolutely destitute of large vessels, to contain and mix liquids, we poured, by means of a tutuma (fruit of crescentia cujete, calabash), the water of the river into one of the holes of the rock. To this we added sugar, and the juice of acid fruits. In a few minutes we had an excellent beverage, which was almost a refinement of luxury in that wild spot; […] 1821, Alexander de Humboldt [i.e., Alexander von Humboldt], Aimé Bonpland, chapter XXI, in Helen Maria Williams, transl., Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent, during the Years 1799–1804. … Written in French[…], and Translated into English[…], volume V, London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown,[…], →OCLC, book VII, page 129
   There was a teacher who taught children to read under a calabash tree, and this teacher's name was Goso. 1870, “Goso, the Teacher”, in Edward Steere, transl., Swahili Tales, as Told by Natives of Zanzibar. With an English Translation, London: Bell & Daldy,[…], →OCLC, page 287
2. 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.
   The calabash, is a kind of gourd, and belongs to that family of twining plants which were called among the Hebrews, "wild vines," but by the botanists of modern times, the cucurbitaceæ, or cucurbitaceous plants. […] That playful variety of form and magnitude, so remarkable in the calabash, renders it fit for all kinds of uses. Sometimes we have a globular base, terminating in a long neck, and then it answers the purpose of a bottle, and the American fastens it to his girdle, or the pommel of his saddle, when about to pass through regions which abound not in water. 1839 January, “L.”, “The Calabash (Cucurbita Lagenaria)”, in The Visitor, or Monthly Instructor, London: The Religious Tract Society; … sold by John Davis,[…], →OCLC, page 75
   CALABASH GOURD (LAGENARIA SICERARIA) […] Appropriately bowing to AHP, the American Herbal Products Association, for the betterment of the herbal industry, I will now use its standardized common name, Calabash Gourd, a vine, not to be confused with the Calabash tree (Crescentia). 2008, James A. Duke, with Peggy-Ann K. Duke and Judith L. duCellie, “Catalog of ‘Faith-based’ Farmaceuticals”, in Duke’s Handbook of Medicinal Plants of the Bible, Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, page 233
   Asian gourds grow like cucumbers […] and feature strong flavors that are often used in Indian, Chinese, and Southeast Asian soups and stews. Some types to try in your garden include the bitter gourd and calabash gourd. 2009, Charlie Nardozzi and editors of the National Gardening Association, “Sweet Corn and an A to T of Other Worthy Veggies”, in Vegetable Gardening for Dummies (For Dummies series), 2nd edition, Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley Publishing, part II (Vegging Out), page 167
3. 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.
   [T]he manner of separating the gold from the sand, is very simple, and is frequently performed by the women in the middle of the town; for when the searchers return from the valleys in the evening, they commonly bring with them each a calabash or two of sand, to be washed by such of the females as remain at home. 1799, Mungo Park, “Of Gold-dust, and the Manner in which It is Collected.—Process of Washing it.—[…]”, in Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa: Performed under the Direction and Patronage of the African Association, in the Years 1795, 1796, and 1797.[…], London: Printed by W[illiam] Bulmer and Co. for the author; and sold by G[eorge] and W[illiam] Nicol,[…], →OCLC, page 302
   Saje put the calabash in the king's hands. There was a hush from the crowd. The calabash was large and painted with beautiful designs. Few people had seen it up close. 1997, Olajire Olanlokun, chapter 3, in Karen Morrison, editor, The Missing Calabash, Oxford, Gaborone, Botswana: Heinemann Educational Publishers, page 13
   … we would pour water from the tank over ourselves with a calabash and finish by splashing on the Agua Florida from Lanman & Kemps […] 2003, Gabriel García Márquez, chapter 2, in Edith Grossman, transl., Living to Tell the Tale: Translated from the Spanish, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf
   [T]he motorcycle drivers say that new helmets are too expensive and instead have been found wearing pumpkin-like calabashes – dried fruit shells usually used to carry water – cooking pots tied with string or strips of rubber from old tyres. 7 January 2009, Mike Pflanz, “Nigerian motorcyclists arrested for wearing pumpkin helmets”, in The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2010-05-22
4. A calabash and its contents; as much as fills such a container.
   Amuta and the twelve-year-old have produced calabashes of palm wine and are busy pouring out healthy drams into the cupped hands of black and white alike. 1981, T[homas] Coraghessan Boyle, “The Niger”, in Water Music, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown; republished London: Granta Books, 1998
   It was dusk by the time Yandi reappeared, carrying a calabash of parboiled rice and a peanut and chili sauce on his head. 2015, Michael [D.] Jackson, “Petra’s Letter”, in Harmattan: A Philosophical Fiction, New York, N.Y., Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press, part 2 (Harmattan), page 122
5. (music) A musical instrument, most commonly a drum or rattle, made from a calabash fruit.
   The inſtrument moſt in requeſt uſed by the Abundi, being the people of the kingdom of Angola, Matamba, and others, is the Marimba; it conſiſts of ſixteen calabaſhes orderly placed along the middle between two ſide-boards joined together, or a long frame, hanging about a man's neck with a thong. Over the mouths of the calabaſhes there are thin ſounding ſlips of red wood called Tanilla, a little above a ſpan long, which being beaten with two little ſticks, returns a ſound from the calabaſhes of ſeveral ſizes not unlike an organ. 1814, Jerom Merolla da Sorrento, “A Voyage to Congo, and Several Other Countries, Chiefly in Southern Africk.[…]”, in John Pinkerton, A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels in All Parts of the World;[…], volume XVI, London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme,and Brown,[…]; and Cadell and Davies,[…], →OCLC, page 245