cala

n. A district on the west coast of Africa. [ 1913 Webster ]

Calabar bean, The of a climbing legumious plant (Physostigma venenosum), a native of tropical Africa. It is highly poisonous. It is used to produce contraction of the pupil of the eye; also in tetanus, neuralgia, and rheumatic diseases; -- called also ordeal bean, being used by the negroes in trials for witchcraft. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Chem.) An alkaloid resembling physostigmine and occurring with it in the calabar bean. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Sp. calabaza, or Pg. calabaça, cabaça (cf. F. Calebasse), lit., a dry gourd, fr. Ar. qar', fem., a kind of gourd + aibas dry. ] 1. The common gourd (plant or fruit). [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The fruit of the calabash tree. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A water dipper, bottle, bascket, or other utensil, made from the dry shell of a calabash or gourd. [ 1913 Webster ]

Calabash tree. (Bot.), a tree of tropical America (Crescentia cujete), producing a large gourdlike fruit, containing a purgative pulp. Its hard shell, after the removal of the pulp, is used for cups, bottles, etc. The African calabash tree is the baobab. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ A corruption of Sp. calabozo dungeon. ] A prison; a jail. [ Local, U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Sp. ] A jail. See Calaboose. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. a fast-growing tropical American evergreen (Muntingia calabura) having white flowers and white fleshy edible fruit; bark yields a silky fiber used in cordage and wood is valuable for staves.
Syn. -- Jamaican cherry, calabur tree, silkwood. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

‖n. [ F. ] A slope or declivity in a manege ground down which a horse is made to gallop, to give suppleness to his haunches. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. any of various orchids of the genus Caladenia. [ WordNet 1.5 ]