from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A name in Porto Rico for a West Indian tree of the buckthorn family, Colubrina reclinata, yielding a heavy, hard, strong, dark-brown wood and a medicinal bark. See naked-wood.
- n. A drink prepared from the bark of the mabi and also from that of Colubrina Colubrina. It is commonly sold in the markets and peddled in the streets of Porto Rico, where it is used as a beverage and as a remedy for indigestion.
Sorry, no etymologies found.
The taste of _mabi_ I can only describe as that of molasses and water flavored with a little cinchona bark.
Her strongest refreshment is _mabi_, -- a mild, effervescent, and, I think, rather disagreeable, beer made from molasses.
-- At mid-day the màchanne-mangé comes, with her girls, -- carrying trays of fried fish, and _akras_, and cooked beans, and bottles of mabi.
Each has her little tin cup to drink her mabi in ...
mabi at dis tyme ob yeer ebberywun shood weer teh hevi dooty swfim cap or teh dubble glub RARG fur exstry prekawshun….
; p el mohem as usual we didnt know where to go so ga3dna n7oos fe thawa7i el kuwait chan ghadoor tqtre7 3lai ina nroo7 mabna mahjoor so i was like yallah lets go 3ashan ehya t9wer, 6ab3an lama we9lna 3nd 3tbat el mabna chan ahaseter, glt laha mabi mabi mabi adsh cuz 9ij 9ij y5r3 o el hnood elie barrah th7kow 3lai; p 6b3an ghadoor
a bottle of the bitter native root-beer called _mabi_.