gumbo

Definition

Synonym of okra: the plant or its edible capsules.

Etymology

Borrowed from Louisiana French gombo, possibly via Louisiana Creole gombo, from Kimbundu ingombo, plural of kingombo (“okra”); compare Portuguese quingombó.

Example Sentences

• "The team stuck fast in the black muck, and every effort to extricate them served only to imbed them more hopelessly in the sticky gumbo."
• "There are no poorer roads in all the United States than the "gumbo" roads of the south—gumbo being the name give a certain kind of mud or clay that is particularly sticky, clings tenaciously, seems to have no bottom, and will not support any weight."
• "The red gumbo soil uttered ugly sucking sounds at the touch of a man's boot."