Calabash \Cal"a*bash\ (k[a^]l"[.a]*b[a^]sh), n. [Sp. calabaza, or Pg. calaba[,c]a, caba[,c]a (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, bascket, 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 gourdlike 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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)