Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A bananalike plant (Musa textilis) native to the Philippines and having broad leaves with long stalks.
- noun The fibers obtained from the stalks of this plant, used to make cordage, fabric, and paper.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The native Philippine name of the plant Musa textilis, which yields manila hemp. Also spelled
abaka .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The Manila-hemp plant (
Musa textilis ); also, its fiber. See Manila hemp undermanila .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a kind of hemp obtained from the abaca plant in the Philippines
- noun Philippine banana tree having leafstalks that yield Manila hemp used for rope and paper etc
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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We were shown a species of banana, called abaca, the finer filaments of which, mixed with silk, are manufactured into native cloth.
In the Eastern Seas William Henry Giles Kingston 1847
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Others can decipher the calendar and the lives of the saints, can sign their names with tolerable facility, and can make the simpler arithmetical calculations with the help of the stchety, a little calculating instrument, composed of wooden balls strung on brass wires, which resembles the "abaca" of the old Romans, and is universally used in Russia.
Russia Donald Mackenzie Wallace 1880
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The latter, which was made of "abaca," the fibre of a banana, vulgarly called "Manilla hemp," although recommended on account of its great elasticity, was not of much use on board ship.
Celebrated Travels and Travellers Part III. The Great Explorers of the Nineteenth Century Jules Verne 1866
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The product was made from powder coated iron frame with abaca rope weaving.
Tour Eiffel Lamp 2010
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To anchor the restaurant in its location, Rockwell Group surrounded the restaurant walls and ceilings with large hand-woven curvilinear abaca panels to evoke an environment submerged under an ocean wave, and added accents of traditional Middle Eastern vernacular architecture such as hand-wrought iron columns of flowers, leaves and buds.
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This has to be a good thing given that just a few years ago no one would have imagined names like Givenchy, Versace, or Burberry coming together to explore the possibilities of fibers like hemp, abaca, or bamboo for their future collections.
FUTUREFASHION: Earth Pledge Remakes Fashion Week | Inhabitat 2008
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This was extremely useful as many of us are familiar with eco-fibers like bamboo, hemp, organic cotton or wool, and soybean, but are less familiar with abaca, lyocell, mud silk, sasawashi, or peace silk, for example.
FUTUREFASHION: Earth Pledge Remakes Fashion Week | Inhabitat 2008
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Their gorgeous line of residential fabrics do not have any toxic finishes and are made from 100 percent biodegradable natural fibers including bamboo, hemp, linen, organic cotton, , abaca and wool.
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OEcotextiles uses a variety of fibers, including linen from Italy, organic cotton from Peru, bamboo from China, hemp from Romania, and abaca from Ecuador, all grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers.
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Adding tactile rugs—everything from wool kilim to plush chenille to nubby abaca—introduces another layer of textural depth.
Thom Filicia Style Thom Filicia 2008
knitandpurl commented on the word abaca
"Clare comes in carrying an armful of abaca fiber."
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, p 106 of the Harcourt paperback edition
August 8, 2010