Cal"a*bash (?), n. [Sp. calabaza, or Pg. calabaa, cabaa (cf. F. Calebasse), lit., a dry gourd, fr. Ar. qar', fem., a kind of gourd + aibas dry.]

1.

The common gourd (plant or fruit).

2.

The fruit of the calabash tree.

3.

A water dipper, bottle, backet, or other utensil, made from the dry shell of a calabash or gourd.

Calabash tree. Bot., a tree of tropical America (Crescentia cujete), producing a large gourdike fruit, containing a purgative pulp. Its hard shell, after the removal of the pulp, is used for cups, bottles, etc. The African calabash tree is the baobab.

© Webster 1913.