Definition of kava in English:

noun

• 1A Pacific Islands drink made from the crushed roots of a plant of the pepper family, having a mildly intoxicating or sedative effect.

  More example sentences

  • ‘In many cultures, men and occasionally women retire each evening to the nakamal to prepare and drink kava, an infusion of the pepper plant.’
  • ‘All chief ceremonies, however, regardless of village, culminate in the kava ceremony wherein the candidate drinks kava for the first time as the new chief.’
  • ‘Also, avoid combining kava with alcohol or sedatives.’
  • ‘In Polynesia, kava is considered the ‘drink of the gods.’’
  • ‘They create beautiful spears, clubs, ceremonial bowls for kava drinking, and elaborately decorated seagoing canoes.’

• 2The shrub from which the kava root is obtained, grown in the Pacific Islands.

  Piper methysticum, family Piperaceae

  More example sentences

  • ‘The first version portrays him as parting the sea with a cycas leaf, the second adds soil enclosed in a wild kava leaf and a bamboo flute to the ritual paraphernalia of departure.’
  • ‘If you have mood disorders such as depression, currently take mood-altering medication or have Parkinson's disease, avoid the herb kava.’
  • ‘My neighbor says the herb kava is a natural way to calm nerves.’
  • ‘Visitors are invited to partake in a yaqona - a welcoming ceremony with a drink brewed from kava root, served in an ironwood bowl, and sipped from a coconut-shell dish.’
  • ‘Conversely, Hawaiians were traditionally the biggest gamblers of Polynesia - going so far as to wager their own lives in surfing competitions - and they made fermented drinks of kava roots.’
  • ‘There are no roads or cars - just tidy grassy areas where people dry the narcotic kava root in the sun.’