Calcutta

[ kal-kuht-uh ]

/ kælˈkʌt ə /

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noun

former name of Kolkata (but sometimes still used).

(sometimes lowercase)Also called Calcutta pool . a form of betting pool for a competition or tournament, as golf or auto racing, in which gamblers bid for participating contestants in an auction, the proceeds from which are put into a pool for distribution, according to a prearranged scale of percentages, to those who selected winners.

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Words nearby Calcutta

calculator, calculous, calculus, calculus of finite differences, calculus of variations, Calcutta, Calcutta Cup, caldarium, Caldecott award, Calder, caldera

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use Calcutta in a sentence

He’s never been outside of Calcutta, and lives vicariously through Rahamat, daydreaming of caravans slowly making their way through high mountain passes.
The One Story That Captures the Immigrant Experience Like No Other|Suketu Mehta|September 17, 2021|Time
Outnumbered five to one in Britain, Scots made up 60 percent of the merchants in Bengal, Calcutta and Madras.
Scotland’s ‘Yes’ Campaign and the Myth of Scottish Equality|Noah Caldwell|September 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Two brothers from Calcutta face divergent fates, one tragic and one beholden to that tragedy.
This Week’s Hot Reads: Sept. 17, 2013|Sarah Stodola|September 16, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Patients Trapped in Calcutta Hospital A fire broke out in a Calcutta hospital Friday, killing more than 80 people.
Dozens Killed in Calcutta Fire: Breaking Updates, Tweets, Photos, and More||December 9, 2011|DAILY BEAST

In the summer of 2006, an obscure mullah in Calcutta seemed desperate for some media attention.
India's Free-Speech Crisis|Basharat Peer|November 5, 2010|DAILY BEAST
Another is for education travel, to see the Taj Mahal and Calcutta and Delhi.
College Can Wait…And Wait|Kathleen Kingsbury|April 30, 2009|DAILY BEAST
Here it broke into the Calcutta and Bombay branches, each nearly a thousand miles in length.
The Red Year|Louis Tracy
Each day he was sending serenely confident telegrams to Calcutta and receiving equally reassuring ones from a fatuous Viceroy.
The Red Year|Louis Tracy
I have seen a set of cut-glass sent to Calcutta for the purpose, or a girandole, too handsome for Brazilian purchasers.
Journal of a Voyage to Brazil|Maria Graham
Every evening, before sunset, all the fashionable world of Calcutta streams hitherward.
A Woman's Journey Round the World|Ida Pfeiffer
Calcutta, in India, taken by Surajah Dowla: of 146 prisoners put into a dungeon called the "black hole," 123 were suffocated.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell

British Dictionary definitions for Calcutta

Calcutta

/ (kælˈkʌtə) /

noun

the former official name (still widely used) of Kolkata

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Calcutta

Calcutta

Largest city in India, located in the eastern part of the country on the Hooghly River.

notes for Calcutta

Calcutta is one of the largest cities in the world and suffers from poverty, overcrowding, and unemployment.