lascar
Americannoun
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an East Indian sailor.
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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
Had Welsh never played the demon among the Bront�s, Emily Bront� had never placed on the canvas Heathcliff, “child neither of lascar nor gypsy, but a man’s shape animated by demon life—a ghoul, an afrit.”
From McClure's Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 5, October 1893 by Various
The plunge of the lead with the mournful, mechanical cry of the lascar came at longer and longer intervals; and the men on her bridge seemed to hold their breath.
From The End of the Tether by Conrad, Joseph
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
The lascar bowman resumed his oar, pulling the boat's head round.
From The Wireless Officer by Westerman, Percy F. (Percy Francis)
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.
