Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A leavened rum cake, usually made with raisins.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A child's variant of papa.
  • noun A light kind of fruitcake, of Polish origin.
  • noun An Oriental title of respect applied by tributary Arabs to the Turks
  • noun to the ushers of the seraglio, and to the Patriarch of Alexandria.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A kind of plum cake.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup.
  • noun esp. among people of East European ancestry A grandmother.
  • noun An old woman, especially a traditional old woman from an eastern European culture.
  • noun esp. among people of Indian ancestry A father.
  • noun Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism A holy man, a spiritual leader.
  • noun India, dated A baby, child.
  • noun In baby talk, often used for a variety of words beginning with b, such as bottle or blanket.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a small cake leavened with yeast

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French baba, baba (from Polish, old woman, round Easter cake, from the cake's resemblance to a pleated skirt) + au, with the + rhum, rum.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

As one of the first utterances many babies are able to say, baba (like mama, papa, and dada) has come to be used in many languages as a term for various family members:

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Examples

  • Audio file: listen to Jean-Marc pronounce the French word baba cool and read the example sentence (above): Download baba_cool. wav

    French Word-A-Day: 2008

  • Audio file: listen to Jean-Marc pronounce the French word baba cool and read the example sentence (above): Download baba_cool. wav

    French Word-A-Day: 2008

  • Audio file: listen to Jean-Marc pronounce the French word baba cool and read the example sentence (above): Download baba_cool. wav

    baba cool - French Word-A-Day 2008

  • Audio file: listen to Jean-Marc pronounce the French word baba cool and read the example sentence above: Download baba_cool.wav

    French Word-A-Day: 2008

  • Audio file: listen to Jean-Marc pronounce the French word baba cool and read the example sentence above: Download baba_cool.wav

    baba cool - French Word-A-Day 2008

  • In one of the culinary curiosities of the Middle East, eggplant and tahini dip is called baba ghanoush all over Lebanon, and as soon as you cross the border into Syria it's called moutabal.

    Archive 2009-01-01 Mercedes 2009

  • In one of the culinary curiosities of the Middle East, eggplant and tahini dip is called baba ghanoush all over Lebanon, and as soon as you cross the border into Syria it's called moutabal.

    Baba Ghanoush (Moutabal) Mercedes 2009

  • I will say that in some places the eggpant-tahini dip is called baba ganoush and in some places it's called moutabbal, so confusion is understandable.

    Hummus Dilettante Mercedes 2007

  • In fact, until Caleb lost his bottle, he slept just fine, possibly because the baba was his "cue" to stop thinking and fall asleep, and he needs a new "cue".

    Archive 2007-02-01 Becca 2007

  • In fact, until Caleb lost his bottle, he slept just fine, possibly because the baba was his "cue" to stop thinking and fall asleep, and he needs a new "cue".

    Insomnia Becca 2007

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