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any of the woody or treelike tropical and semitropical grasses of the genera Bambusa, Phyllostachys, Dendrocalamus, and allied genera, having woody, usually hollow stems with stalked blades and flowering only after years of growth.
the stem of such a plant, used as a building material and for making furniture, poles, etc.
Contemporary Examples

If anyone was slow in walking, they would use the bamboo to beat that person.
An Oral History of Mao’s Greatest Crime Zhou Xun November 23, 2013

He digs peanut butter out of bamboo shoots and sucks on frozen hemp milk and munches on mangoes and sweet potatoes and grapes.
Bubbles Speaks Ben Montgomery July 4, 2009

Tell that to the nearby pandas, happily ensconced with their bamboo, magnificently ignoring everything.
How to Catch a Depressed Gorilla, Japanese-Style Tim Teeman February 5, 2014

On our way to work every day, the cadres stood by with a bamboo cane in their hand.
An Oral History of Mao’s Greatest Crime Zhou Xun November 23, 2013

The rooms are cold and the bamboo sticks are infused with aromas; each room exudes a different Japanese scent.
The Royal Academy Wants You to Finish This Artwork Chloë Ashby January 23, 2014

Historical Examples

The trees were now not the lesser growths of bamboo, lime and sago-palm that covered the foot-hills.
The Jungle Girl Gordon Casserly

There may be a couch, or more of them, of bamboo and rattan.
Four Young Explorers Oliver Optic

And sometimes it will come down to the ground to make a meal upon roots, or the young shoots of bamboo.
The Animal World, A Book of Natural History Theodore Wood

Some culprits are treated to twenty or more blows with a bamboo.
Four Young Explorers Oliver Optic

That is, their houses are made of bamboo, which is a kind of giant grass.
Mother Nature’s Toy-Shop Lina Beard

noun
any tall treelike tropical or semitropical fast-growing grass of the genus Bambusa, having hollow woody-walled stems with ringed joints and edible young shoots (bamboo shoots)
the stem of any of these plants, used for building, poles, and furniture
any of various bamboo-like grasses of the genera Arundinaria, Phyllostachys or Dendrocalamus
(modifier) made of bamboo: a bamboo fence
n.

1590s, from Dutch bamboe, from Portuguese bambu, earlier mambu (16c.), probably from Malay samambu, though some suspect this is itself an imported word.