Obs. [= F., It., Pg. carabé (also F., Pg. karabé), ad. Arab. kahrubā, a. Pers. kāhrubā ‘attracting straws,’ amber, f. kāh straw + rubā carrying off.] Yellow amber. Karabe of Sodom, bitumen.
1545. Raynold, Byrth Mankynde, II. vi. (1634), 126. Karabe, otherwise named Amber.
1727–41. Chambers, Cycl., Amber, Succinum, or Karabe.
1794. R. J. Sulivan, View Nat., II. 105. The Karabé of Sodom … is black, not very weighty and solid.
1799. G. Smith, Laboratory, II. 443. Take one ounce of the whitest karabe (amber).
Hence Karabic a., in karabic acid = succinic acid (Syd. Soc. Lex., 1887).
