cutcherry

American  

[kuh-cher-ee, kuhch-uh-ree] / kəˈtʃɛr i, ˈkʌtʃ ə ri /

Or cutchery

noun

plural

cutcherries

1. (in India) a public administrative or judicial office.

2. any administrative office.

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cutcherry British  

/ ˈkʌtʃərɪ /

noun

1. (formerly, in India) government offices and law courts collectively

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Etymology

Origin of cutcherry

1600–10; < Hindi kacērī, variant of kacahrī audience house, courthouse, office

Example Sentences

Plenty of witnesses were forthcoming to give evidence against them; such can be purchased outside any cutcherry in India for a few rupees.

From In Clive's Command A Story of the Fight for India by Strang, Herbert

During the day the cutcherry or office is crowded with the more respectable villagers, paying in rents and settling accounts.

From Sport and Work on the Nepaul Frontier Twelve Years Sporting Reminiscences of an Indigo Planter by Inglis, James

The cutcherry clerks and the police are with him everywhere; higher native officials are often on his side.

From Twenty-One Days in India; and, the Teapot Series by Aberigh-Mackay, George Robert

North of this citadel were the magazine, the Church, some European houses, and the cutcherry, or group of minor law courts, while the main thoroughfare leading in that direction passed through the Kashmir Gate.

From The Red Year A Story of the Indian Mutiny by Tracy, Louis

There is always some noise about a putwarrie's cutcherry.

From Sport and Work on the Nepaul Frontier Twelve Years Sporting Reminiscences of an Indigo Planter by Inglis, James