gourd

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Vegetables of the family Cucurbitaceae, including calabash or bottle gourd (Lagenaria vulgaris), ash gourd (Benincasa hispida), snake gourd (Trichosanthes anguina), cucumber (Cucumis sativus), vegetable marrow (Cucurbita pepo), pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata), squash (Cucurbita maxima), coocha or chayote (Sechium edule), cantaloup melon (Cucumis melo), water melon (Citrullus vulgaris); hedged gourd is kiwano. All contain more than 90% water and have little food value apart from vitamin C at 10 mg per 100 g. In addition, yellow pumpkin contains 900 μg carotene per 100 g. Melons are sometimes grown for their seeds, which contain 20-40% oil and 20% protein.

[GOHRD] The inedible fruit of various plants with an extremely hard, tough shell. When all the flesh is removed, the shell can be dried and used as a container, utensil or for decorative purposes.

[Sp]

A half-hardy trailing plant (Lagenaria siceraria) which produces a large bulbous fruit. There are various kinds of gourd, including the marrow and the pumpkin. The rind of the bottle gourd is hard and when dried can be used to make water containers or musical instruments. Thought to be of African origin, but also found widely in the Americas, southern Asia, and the Pacific Islands. How gourds arrived in the New World is a puzzling problem, but they are present in South America by c.7000 bc. One possibility is that some fruits arrived by floating across the Atlantic. Certainly gourds remain viable after immersion in salt water for several weeks.

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The human head.

IN BRIEF: n. - Bottle made from the dried shell of a fruit; Any vine of the family Cucurbitaceae that bears fruits with hard rinds; Any of numerous inedible fruits with hard rinds.

Tutor's tip: The "gourd" (a kind of plant with dry, hollow, and often fancy fruits) was "gored" (pierced by an animal tusk) during the bull's raid of the garden.

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noun
noun, US

The head or mind; often in phr. off or out of (one's) gourd. (a.1844 —) .
C. Mcfadden She was still stoned out of her gourd (1977).

[From earlier sense, (large) fleshy fruit or its dried shell used as a container.]

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Luffa is also called loofah, vegetable sponge, or dishcloth gourd. It is the fibrous remains of the old mature fruit of either Luffa cylindrica (L.) Roem. (water gourd, smooth loofah) or Luffa acutangula Roxb. (silky gourd, angled loofah) (Family Cucurbitaceae). Both are annual vines, native to tropical Asia. The former is cultivated throughout China while the latter mainly in the southern provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi. The fruit of L. cylindrica is elongated and smooth while that of L. acutangula is elongated but bears ten prominent longitudinal ridges. Young fruits are eaten as vegetables. For medicinal and cosmetic uses, the fruit of L. cylindrica is allowed to grow old and is harvested in autumn, usually after the first frost. The pulp, skin, and seeds are then removed by rubbing or the fruit is soaked in water until the skin and pulp disintegrate, which are then washed off along with the seeds; the resulting sponge-like luffa is then sun dried. This is the form most familiar to Westerners. The mature fruit of L. acutangula is also collected in the fall but is dried without removing skin and seeds.
Luffa has been used in Chinese medicine since the 16th century. Traditionally considered sweet tasting and neutral and to promote blood circulation and facilitate energy flow in the body (huoxue tongluo) as well as having anti-inflammatory, fever-reducing, and detoxifying properties, among others (leung). Used in treating numerous conditions, especially rheumatism, arthritic pain, muscle pain, chest pain, amenorrhea, and lack of milk flow in nursing mothers. Luffa charcoal has recently been reported effective in the topical treatment of shingles (herpes zoster) in the face and eye region (leung).
Apart from the presence of polysaccharides (including cellulose, xylan, and mannangalactan), the chemistry of luffa sponge is basically unknown.
Decoctions of luffa sponge (i.p. or s.c.) exhibited marked anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and tranquilizing effects in mice.
Toxicity of luffa is very low: LD₅₀ (i.p.) of decoction in mice was 137.40 ± 16.71 g/kg.
Luffa sponge is used to remove dead skin tissue and to stimulate the skin; powdered luffa and extracts used in facial scrubs, skin cleansers, and other skin-care products for their anti-inflammatory and traditional detoxicant properties.

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For a list of words related to gourd, see:

• Head and Neck - gourd: Slang. head
• Vines
• Basins, Ladles, Cups, and Pots - gourd: hard rind from any of various fruits, used as dipper or kettle

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See words rhyming with "gourd."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Gourd.

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Common misspelling(s) of gourd

• gaurd

Dansk (Danish)
n. - græskar, græskarflaske, hoved

idioms:

• off one's gourd    ikke være rigtig klog
• out of one's gourd    ikke være rigtig klog, være skæv

Nederlands (Dutch)
kalebas(fles), pompoen gek

Français (French)
n. - (Bot) gourde, gourde/bouteille, (US) calebasse (la tête)

idioms:

• off one's gourd    (US) être toqué
• out of one's gourd    (US) être toqué

Deutsch (German)
n. - Kürbis, Kürbisflasche

idioms:

• off one's gourd    verrückt
• out of one's gourd    verrückt

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (νερο)κολόκυθο, φλασκί

idioms:

• off one's gourd    που τα έχει χαμένα
• out of one's gourd    που τα έχει χαμένα

Italiano (Italian)
zucca, borraccia

idioms:

• off one's gourd    pazzo
• out of one's gourd    pazzo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - cuia (f), abóbora (f) (Bot.), porongo (m) (Bot.), cabaceiro (m) (Bot.)

idioms:

• out of/off one's gourd    fora do alcance

Русский (Russian)
тыква, бутыль из тыквы, башка

idioms:

• out of/off one's gourd    спятивший

Español (Spanish)
n. - calabaza, botella o vasija con forma de calabaza y cuello estrecho

idioms:

• off one's gourd    loco
• out of one's gourd    loco

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - kalebass (bot.)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
葫芦, 瓢

idioms:

• off one's gourd    发疯了
• out of one's gourd    一定疯了

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 葫蘆, 瓢

idioms:

• off one's gourd    發瘋了
• out of one's gourd    一定瘋了

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 조롱박, 조롱박 열매, 바가지

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ヒョウタン, ヒョウタン製容器

idioms:

• out of/off one's gourd    狂って

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) قرع, يقطين‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮דלעת, כלי (מקליפת) דלעת‬