Dar calabazas

to turn someone down; **to turn someone down**; **to reject someone**; **to give someone the brush-off**; **to reject an advance**

Dar calabazas means to reject someone or turn them down.

Most commonly, it refers to refusing someone's romantic interest.

By extension, it can also mean refusing an offer, declining a proposal or, in some regions and contexts, failing someone in an exam.

• rejects a romantic advance
• says "no" to a marriage proposal
• turns down an invitation
• refuses an offer
• (less commonly) fails a student in an examination

The expression dates back several centuries.

One traditional explanation says that, in some parts of Spain, a suitor who was not accepted by a young woman's family was symbolically given a pumpkin instead of encouragement.

Another theory links the pumpkin with emptiness or disappointment.

Although historians disagree about the precise source, the association between pumpkins and rejection has remained remarkably stable.

Today, the expression almost always carries a light or humorous tone.

Friends may jokingly ask:

¿Te dio calabazas?

after a date that did not go well.

The expression is far more playful than harsh.

Spanish uses surprisingly ordinary foods in many idioms:

• Dar calabazas → to turn someone down.
• Importar un pimiento → not to care at all.
• Estar como un tomate → to be bright red with embarrassment.
• Ser la pera → to be extraordinary.

These everyday objects often have meanings that are impossible to guess from the words themselves.

Do not translate the expression literally.

English speakers would never say:

She gave me pumpkins.

Instead, use:

• She turned me down.
• She rejected me.
• She gave me the brush-off.

The pumpkin has no symbolic meaning in English.