LUFFA

add. ·noun any plant of this genus, or its fruit.

2. luffa ·add. ·noun the fibrous skeleton of the fruit, used as a sponge and in the manufacture of caps and women's hats;

— written also loofah.

3. luffa ·add. ·noun a small genus of tropical cucurbitaceous plants having white flowers, the staminate borne in racemes, and large fruits with a dry fibrous pericarp. the fruit of several species and the species themselves, ·esp. l. aegyptiaca, are called dishcloth gourds.