sambuca
/samˈbʊkə/US/sæmˈbukə/
sambuca noun: an Italian liqueur made from elderberries and flavoured with licorice, traditionally served with 3 coffee beans that represent health, wealth and fortune (or past, present and future).
Noun (1)
sambuca (usually uncountable, plural sambucas)
Noun (2)
UK/samˈbjuːkə/US/sæmˈb(j)ukə/
sambuca (plural sambucae or sambucas)
- An ancient form of triangular harp having a very sharp, shrill tone.
- Cymbals, trumpets and organs (familiar Old Testament vocabulary) appear conventionally enough as cymballe, trwmpedau and organau, but the more obscure psaltria, trigona, and sambucae (psalteries, trigons and sambucae: three types of Greek harp) become psalteris, kornets, shalmes, [a] dulcimus in...2007, Sally Harper, “Part III: Welsh Music in an English Milieu c.1550–1650”, “19. A Welsh Translation of John Case’s Apologia Musices”, in Music in Welsh Culture Before 1650: A Study of the...
- An ancient type of ship-borne siege engine.
- Marcellus had prepared, at great expense, machines called ſambucae, from their reſemblance to a muſical inſtrument of that name.[…]“Shall we perſiſt,” ſaid he to his workmen and engineers, “in making war with this Briareus of a geometrician, who treats my gallies and ſambucae ſo rudely? He...1790, “Book Twenty-First. The History of Syracuse”, “Article II. The Reign of Hieronymus, the Troubles Consequential of It, and the Siege and Taking of Syracuse”, in The Ancient History, 8th edition...
- This machine was called a sambuca, from its resemblance to a musical instrument of that name, not unlike an harp. the consul’s design was to bring his sambuca to the foot of the walls of Acradina; but while it was at a considerable distance, (and it advanced very slowly, being moved only by two...1813, Richard Clarke, The Life of the Right Honorable Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson, London: J. and J. Cundee, page 118
sambuca meaning in Arabic
sambuca in Arabic
- Italian liqueur made from elderberries and flavoured with licorice
- سَامْبُوكَا sambūka
Examples of sambuca in a sentence
- After this there arose a discussion about the sambuca.1854, “Book XIV”, “Music”, in C. D. Yonge, transl., The Deipnosophists or Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, volume III, London: Henry G....
- Some way off to his right, the sambuca on the craft that had come in at the same time as theirs had just been grabbed by another iron claw.2014, Ben Kane, Hannibal: Clouds of War, Arrow Books, →ISBN, pages 137, 163:
- Surrounding the sambucae were the quinqueremes with archers and javelineers on deck, who would provide fire support against the defending Syracusians (Figure 4).2017, Larrie D. Ferreiro, “Archimedes the Military Engineer”, in Chris Rorres, editor, Archimedes in the 21st Century: Proceedings of a...
Forms of sambuca
| plural | sambucas |
|---|---|
| plural | sambucae |
| alternative form | sambuke |
Origin of sambuca
] Borrowed from Italian sambuca, from Latin sambūcus (“elder tree”), due to a similar 19th century liquor flavored with elderflower. Modern sambuca, which doesn't necessarily have elderberry, started being marketed in 1971.
From Latin sambūca, from Ancient Greek σαμβύκη (sambúkē), ultimately from Aramaic סַבְּכָא (sabbəḵā).
Words that rhyme with sambuca
Questions about sambuca
- What does sambuca mean?
- Sambuca means an Italian liqueur made from elderberries and flavoured with licorice, traditionally served with 3 coffee beans that represent health, wealth and fortune (or past, present and future).
- What is sambuca in Arabic?
- Sambuca in Arabic is سَامْبُوكَا (sambūka). See Sambuca meaning in Arabic.
- How do you use sambuca in a sentence?
- After this there arose a discussion about the sambuca.
- What part of speech is sambuca?
- Sambuca is a noun.
- How do you pronounce sambuca?
- Sambuca is pronounced /samˈbʊkə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of sambuca?
- The plural of sambuca is sambucas.
Words near sambuca in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sambuca (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sambuca (Italy).wav.
Cite this entry: “sambuca.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sambuca. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.