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Bamboo

//bæmˈbu// adj, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Adjective

1
Made of the wood of the bamboo. not-comparable

Noun

1
A fast-growing grass of the Bambusoideae subfamily, characterised by its woody, hollow, round, straight, jointed stem. countable, uncountable
"However, the late Hsia and the Shang were considerably warmer, possibly comparable to Hang-chou today, an area where bamboo proliferates."
2
woody tropical grass having hollow woody stems; mature canes used for construction and furniture wordnet
3
The wood of the bamboo plant as a material for building, furniture, etc. uncountable
4
the hard woody stems of bamboo plants; used in construction and crafts and fishing poles wordnet
5
A stick, rod, pole, or cane of bamboo, especially one used as a vessel for liquids, or as a tool for corporal punishment. countable
"It was evident that Europeans seldom came here, for numbers of women skeltered away as I walked through the village and one girl about ten or twelve years old, who had just brought a bamboo full of water from the river, threw it down with a cry of horror and alarm the moment she caught sight of me, turned around and jumped into the stream."

Show 2 more definitions

6
A didgeridoo. countable, slang, uncountable
7
A member of the British military or British East India Company who spent so much time in Indonesia, India, or Malaysia that they never went back home. countable, slang, uncountable

Verb

1
To flog with a bamboo cane. transitive
"[…] the beadle is punished by fine, and sometimes bambooed, if robberies are too frequent within his jurisdiction, or if he fails to secure the person of any malefactor particularly wanted by his superior officers."
2
To paint (furniture, etc.) to give it the appearance of bamboo. transitive
"The craze for bambooing furniture and accessories was one of many popular paint techniques in the 18th century and early Victorian era."
3
To penetrate sexually. India, slang
"If you're just a girl from Lucknow, with no fluid cash, you'll be just one more among thousands going from producer to producer by auto-rickshaw, and every photographer who agrees to take a picture for your portfolio will want to introduce you to his bed upstairs in the loft. And what you'll get out of all this in the end is a lot of bambooing and maybe a dance or two in his videos."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Etymology tree Proto-Dravidian *wē Proto-Dravidian *mpu Proto-Dravidian *wēmpu Tamil வேம்பு (vēmpu)bor. ▲ Proto-Dravidian *wēmpu Kannada ಬಂಬು (bambu)bor. Malay bambubor. Portuguese bambubor. Dutch bamboebor. English bamboo Borrowed from Dutch bamboe, from Portuguese bambu, from Malay bambu, from Kannada ಬಂಬು (bambu), variant form of ಬೇವು (bēvu). Cognate with Malayalam വേപ്പ് (vēppŭ), Telugu వేప (vēpa), from Proto-Dravidian *wēmpu (“neem”).

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

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