Definitions

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

  • noun Any of various usually woody, temperate or tropical plants chiefly of the genera Arundinaria, Bambusa, Dendrocalamus, Phyllostachys, or Sasa in the grass family. Certain species of bamboo can reach heights of 20 to 30 meters (66 to 98 feet).
  • noun The hard or woody, jointed, often hollow stems of these plants, used in construction and to make various kinds of utensils.
  • noun Fabric or yarn manufactured from these plants.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The common name of the arborescent grasses belonging to the genus Bambusa (which see) and its allies.
  • noun In the West Indies, a tall climbing grass of the genus Panicum, P. divaricatum.
  • noun In Queensland, a coarse grass, Stipa micrantha.
  • noun A stick or cane from the stem of the bamboo.
  • noun In pottery, a name given to a cane-colored biscuit made by Wedgwood.
  • noun An Eastern measure of length, equal in Pondicherry to 3⅔ meters.
  • noun In Sumatra, a measure of capacity: in Bencoolen, equal to the United States (Winchester) gallon; in Achin, to 5 pints.
  • To beat with a bamboo; punish by flogging with a smooth lath of bamboo; bastinado.

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

  • transitive verb To flog with the bamboo.
  • noun (Bot.) A plant of the family of grasses, and genus Bambusa, growing in tropical countries.

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

  • noun A plant; a grass of the Poaceae family, characterised by its woody, hollow, round, straight, jointed stem.
  • noun The wood of the bamboo plant as a material or cane.
  • noun a didgeridoo
  • noun slang A British military or Honourable East India Company employee, who spent so much time in Indonesia, India, or Malaysia that they never went back home.
  • adjective Made of the wood of the bamboo.
  • verb transitive To flog with a bamboo cane.

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

  • noun the hard woody stems of bamboo plants; used in construction and crafts and fishing poles
  • noun woody tropical grass having hollow woody stems; mature canes used for construction and furniture

Etymologies

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

[Back-formation from earlier bambos (taken as pl.), from Dutch bamboes, of Malay or Dravidian origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Dutch bamboe, from Portuguese bambu, from Malay bambu, from Kannada ಬಮ್ಬು (bambu).

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Examples

  • I remember he blended in bamboo straw to give the block more strength as well as adding the crushed berries/leaves from a local plant that acted as a natural insecticide and kept his adobe home free of ants, roaches and spiders.

    new adobe construction? 2009

  • Captured by VC and spent 2 days partly submerged in bamboo cage before escaping and evading and finding friendly forces.

    Heroes or Villains? 2010

  • I remember he blended in bamboo straw to give the block more strength as well as adding the crushed berries/leaves from a local plant that acted as a natural insecticide and kept his adobe home free of ants, roaches and spiders.

    new adobe construction? 2009

  • Therefore the materials were chosen accordingly: bamboo is used all throughout Vietnam due to the fact that it is cheap, easy to work with and also easy to transport.

    Bamboo Bed 2009

  • I remember he blended in bamboo straw to give the block more strength as well as adding the crushed berries/leaves from a local plant that acted as a natural insecticide and kept his adobe home free of ants, roaches and spiders.

    new adobe construction? 2009

  • I remember he blended in bamboo straw to give the block more strength as well as adding the crushed berries/leaves from a local plant that acted as a natural insecticide and kept his adobe home free of ants, roaches and spiders.

    new adobe construction? 2009

  • Errol Flynn popularised the idea of using thin bamboo rafts to silently glide along the river.

    In search of Errol Flynn's Jamaica Sarfraz Manzoor 2010

  • The bamboo is gorgeous but not as durable as the hardwood in the rest of the house.

    Cheeseburger Gothic » The Ladies Blue Room. Or something. 2010

  • Rob got some hands-on time with some of the more visually interesting models, including one netbook covered in bamboo, and others covered in very Vegas-appropriate gold lamé or Lamborghini co-branding.

    Boing Boing 2009

  • I remember he blended in bamboo straw to give the block more strength as well as adding the crushed berries/leaves from a local plant that acted as a natural insecticide and kept his adobe home free of ants, roaches and spiders.

    new adobe construction? 2009

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