Definitions

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

  • noun A Latin-American percussion instrument consisting of a hollow-gourd rattle containing pebbles or beans and often played in pairs.

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

  • noun music A Latin American percussion instrument consisting of a hollow-gourd rattle containing pebbles or beans and often played in pairs, as a rhythm instrument.
  • noun slang, in the plural breasts

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

  • noun a percussion instrument consisting of a hollow gourd containing pebbles or beans; often played in pairs

Etymologies

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

[Portuguese maracá, probably from Tupí.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Portuguese, derived from Old Tupi maráka or Guaraní mbaraka.

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