bamboo or bambuc . ( Of the port. )( bamboo ). 1. m. plant of the family of the grasses, native to the India, with a woody stem which reaches more than 20 m in height, and whose upper knots are born together very loaded with large pale green leaves, and flowers in panicles straight, ramosas and extended. Reeds, although slight, are very resistant, and are used in the construction of houses and in the manufacture of furniture, weapons, tools, pots and other objects; the leaves for wrapping boxes of tea coming from China; the bark, in the paper mills; the nodes provide a kind of sugar, and the tender shoots are edible.