lascar
Americannoun
-
an East Indian sailor.
-
Indian English. an artilleryman.
noun
Etymology
Origin of lascar
First recorded in 1620–30; from Portuguese, short for lasquarin “soldier,” from Urdu lashkarī, from Persian, equivalent to lashkar “army” + -ī a suffix indicating relationship or origin; lasquarin shows spontaneous nasalization that occurs in Portuguese, as also in sim “yes,” from Latin sīc ( Spanish sí, Italian sì, French si )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
While writing Sea of Poppies, he scoured old dictionaries and almanacs and filled the novel with dizzying dialogues incorporating bastardized Hindustani and lascar words that he claims entered common English parlance in the 19th century.
From Time Magazine Archive
In a few minutes he left this in a skiff accompanied only by Fuzl Khan and a lascar.
From In Clive's Command A Story of the Fight for India by Strang, Herbert
Save for his ardent eyes and the handsome fanatical face of the man, he might have passed for a lascar.
From The Golden Scorpion by Rohmer, Sax
According to custom, the lascar crew turned out gorgeous in crimson-and-gold scarfs, spotless white robes, and embroidered turbans, very different from their dingy working garb.
From The Crooked Stick or Pollies's Probation by Boldrewood, Rolf
But a yelling spirit of excitement, like some frantic soul wandering unsuspected in the vast stillness of the coast, had seized upon the body of the lascar at the lead.
From The End of the Tether by Conrad, Joseph
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
