bamboo

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bam·boo

(băm-bo͞o′)

n. pl. bam·boos

1. 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).

2. The hard or woody, jointed, often hollow stems of these plants, used in construction and to make various kinds of utensils.

3. Fabric or yarn manufactured from these plants.

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

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

bamboo

(bæmˈbuː)

1. (Plants) any tall treelike tropical or semitropical fast-growing grass of the genus Bambusa, having hollow woody-walled stems with ringed joints and edible young shoots (bamboo shoots)

2. (Plants) the stem of any of these plants, used for building, poles, and furniture

3. (Plants) any of various bamboo-like grasses of the genera Arundinaria, Phyllostachys or Dendrocalamus

4. (modifier) made of bamboo: a bamboo fence.

[C16: probably from Malay bambu]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

bam•boo

(bæmˈbu)

n., pl. -boos.

1. any of various tall, sometimes treelike tropical and semitropical grasses, as of the genera Bambusa,Phyllostachys, and Dendrocalamus, having woody, usu. hollow stems bearing stalks of narrow leaves.

2. the stem of such a plant, used as a building material and for making furniture, poles, etc.

[1590–1600; earlier bambu < Malay, appar. < Dravidian]

bam·boo

(băm-bo͞o′)

Any of various tall grasses having jointed, woody, and often hollow stems. Some species of bamboo can reach heights of 100 feet (30.5 meters) or more. The young shoots of some types of bamboo are used as food.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	bamboo - the hard woody stems of bamboo plants; used in construction and crafts and fishing poles bamboo - woody tropical grass having hollow woody stems; mature canes used for construction and furniture wood - the hard fibrous lignified substance under the bark of trees
	2.	bamboo - woody tropical grass having hollow woody stems; mature canes used for construction and furniture graminaceous plant, gramineous plant - cosmopolitan herbaceous or woody plants with hollow jointed stems and long narrow leaves Bambuseae, tribe Bambuseae - bamboos bamboo - the hard woody stems of bamboo plants; used in construction and crafts and fishing poles Bambusa vulgaris, common bamboo - extremely vigorous bamboo having thin-walled culms striped green and yellow; so widely cultivated that native area is uncertain Arundinaria gigantea, cane reed, giant cane - tall grass of southern United States growing in thickets Arundinaria tecta, small cane, switch cane - small cane of watery or moist areas in southern United States Dendrocalamus giganteus, giant bamboo, kyo-chiku - immense tropical southeast Asian bamboo with tough hollow culms that resemble tree trunks fishpole bamboo, gosan-chiku, hotei-chiku, Phyllostachys aurea - small bamboo of southeastern China having slender culms flexuous when young black bamboo, kuri-chiku, Phyllostachys nigra - small bamboo having thin green culms turning shining black giant timber bamboo, ku-chiku, madake, Phyllostachys bambusoides - large bamboo having thick-walled culms; native of China and perhaps Japan; widely grown elsewhere

Translations

خَيْرُزانشَجَرَةُ الخَيْزَران

bambus

bambuo

bambu

bambus

bambusz

bambusreyr

bambù

竹

대나무

bambukas

bambusa-bambuss

bambusbambusový

bambus

bambu

ต้นไผ่

bambu

cây tre

竹子

bamboo

[bæmˈbuː]

A. N (= cane, plant) → bambú m

B. CPD the Bamboo Curtain N → el Telón de Bambú
bamboo shoots NPL → brotes mpl de bambú

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

bamboo

[bæmˈbuː]

n → bambou m

modif

(= made of bamboo) [cane, pole, stick] → de bambou; [curtain] → de bambou; [hut] → de bambou, en bambou; [furniture] → en bambou

[the bamboo plant] [leaf] → de bambou bamboo shootsbamboo shoots npl → pousses fpl de bambou

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

bamboo

n → Bambus m attr → Bambus-; bamboo shoots pl → Bambussprossen pl; the Bamboo Curtain (Pol) → der Bambusvorhang

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

bamboo

[bæmˈbuː]

1. n → bambù m inv

2. adj → di bambù

bamboo

(bӕmˈbuː) noun, adjective

(of) a type of gigantic grass with hollow, jointed, woody stems. furniture made of bamboo; bamboo furniture.

bamboo

→ خَيْرُزان bambus bambus Bambus μπαμπού bambú bambu bambou bambus bambù 竹 대나무 bamboe bambus bambus bambu бамбук bambu ต้นไผ่ bambu cây tre 竹子

References in classic literature ?

He caught up a coconut calabash attached to the end of a stick of bamboo, dipped into the greenery of ferns, and presented to Jerry the calabash brimming with the precious water.

View in context

He did not fail to observe the curious equipages--carriages and palanquins, barrows supplied with sails, and litters made of bamboo; nor the women-- whom he thought not especially handsome--who took little steps with their little feet, whereon they wore canvas shoes, straw sandals, and clogs of worked wood, and who displayed tight-looking eyes, flat chests, teeth fashionably blackened, and gowns crossed with silken scarfs, tied in an enormous knot behind an ornament which the modern Parisian ladies seem to have borrowed from the dames of Japan.

There he saw dazzling camellias expanding themselves, with flowers which were giving forth their last colours and perfumes, not on bushes, but on trees, and within bamboo enclosures, cherry, plum, and apple trees, which the Japanese cultivate rather for their blossoms than their fruit, and which queerly-fashioned, grinning scarecrows protected from the sparrows, pigeons, ravens, and other voracious birds.

View in context

Their place was taken by an immense wilderness of bamboo, which grew so thickly that we could only penetrate it by cutting a pathway with the machetes and billhooks of the Indians.

Behind us was the wall of bamboo, as definite as if it marked the course of a river.

View in context

saw the birth of what was probably the first literary club ever known, the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove.

View in context

Then the house had been boldly planned with a ball-room, so that, instead of squeezing through a narrow passage to get to it (as at the Chiverses') one marched solemnly down a vista of enfiladed drawing- rooms (the sea-green, the crimson and the bouton d'or), seeing from afar the many-candled lustres reflected in the polished parquetry, and beyond that the depths of a conservatory where camellias and tree-ferns arched their costly foliage over seats of black and gold bamboo.

View in context

At this moment the light bamboo doors at the entrance swung open and crashed against the siding.

View in context

The lightning spattered the sky as a thrown egg spattered a barn door, but the light was pale blue, not yellow; and looking through my slit bamboo blinds, I could see the great dog standing, not sleeping, in the veranda, the hackles alift on her back, and her feet planted as tensely as the drawn wire rope of a suspension bridge.

View in context

He beat the buffaloes with a long, polished bamboo, and told Kamya, one of the boys, to graze the cattle by themselves, while he went on with the buffaloes, and to be very careful not to stray away from the herd.

View in context

I evaded the question by general answers; "that I had satisfied the Emperor and court in all particulars." However, a malicious rogue of a skipper went to an officer, and pointing to me, told him, "I had not yet trampled on the crucifix;" but the other, who had received instructions to let me pass, gave the rascal twenty strokes on the shoulders with a bamboo; after which I was no more troubled with such questions.

View in context

They cordially hated them; but the impulses of their resentment were neutralized by their dread of the floating batteries, which lay with their fatal tubes ostentatiously pointed, not at fortifications and redoubts, but at a handful of bamboo sheds, sheltered in a grove of cocoanuts!