Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An Eastern tobacco-pipe in which the smoke passes through water before reaching the lips, the water being contained in a receptacle originally of cocoanut, now often of glass, porcelain, or metal. (Compare sheesheh.) The stem is a long flexible tube, often called a snake. See kalian.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A large Oriental tobacco pipe wherein the smoke is drawn through water to filter and cool it.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an oriental tobacco pipe with a long flexible tube connected to a container where the smoke is cooled by passing through water

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French narghilé, obsolete variant of narguilé, from Persian nārgīleh, from nārgīl, coconut (from which the receptacle was made), from Sanskrit nārikelaḥ, nālikeraḥ.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Turkish nargile, from Persian نارگیله (nārgileh) from نارگیل (nārgil, "coconut"), which used to be used to construct the bowl, from Sanskrit नारिकेल (nārikela, "coconut"); cf French narghileh.

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Examples

  • "The narghile is the peace pipe of the Middle East."

    West Meets East 2007

  • Some of the Egyptians use a form of hookah called the narghile or nargeeleh -- so named because the water is contained in the shell of a cocoanut of which the Arabic name is nargeeleh.

    Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce E. R. Billings

  • {2} The narghile is a water-pipe upon the plan of the hookah, but more gracefully fashioned; the smoke is drawn by a very long flexible tube, that winds its snake-like way from the vase to the lips of the beatified smoker.

    Eothen, or, Traces of Travel Brought Home from the East Alexander William Kinglake 1850

  • 2 The narghile is a water-pipe upon the plan of the hookah, but more gracefully fashioned; the smoke is drawn by a very long flexible tube, that winds its snake-like way from the vase to the lips of the beatified smoker.

    Eothen 2003

  • "It is a fallacy that smoking the narghile is a safer alternative to smoking.

    IOL: News 2008

  • Since, according to the bong owner, the bong was actually an antique Tunisian narghile originating from the estate of the deceased actor Van Heflin ( "Shane"), Brown University wrote her a check in the amount of the lost item's estimated value: $500.

    Andrea Chalupa: Meet the Human I.P.O. 2009

  • A bubbling sound from within made me look up, and I watched a refilled narghile being set down amid a circle of men.

    Peter Clothier: The Novice: A Book Review 2009

  • Just last month my 15-year-old son, Daniel, mentioned that some of his friends were smoking hookahs (also known as shisha, narghile, goza, and hubble bubble).

    The hook in hookahs 2008

  • Just last month my 15-year-old son, Daniel, mentioned that some of his friends were smoking hookahs also known as shisha, narghile, goza, and hubble bubble.

    The hook in hookahs 2008

  • Chaouachi believes the narghile can introduce Western youth to Arab culture and "teach a lot in these troubled times."

    West Meets East 2007

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  • The narghile is a water-pipe upon the plan of the hookah, but more gracefully fashioned; the smoke is drawn by a very long flexible tube, that winds its snake-like way from the vase to the lips of the beatified smoker.

    January 21, 2022