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Definition of "abaca" []

  • 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. Also called manila, Manila hemp. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "abaca" in a sentence
  • "We were shown a species of banana, called abaca, the finer filaments of which, mixed with silk, are manufactured into native cloth."
  • "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."
  • "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."