punkah
Americannoun
adjective
Etymology
Origin of punkah
First recorded in 1615–25, punkah is from the Hindi word paṅkhā
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.
The section Punk, for example, lists 43 definitions of that word, and then goes on to define punkah, punkateero and punkatunk.
From Time Magazine Archive
Over his head waved a punkah, drawn by a white-clad woman disciple.
From Time Magazine Archive
He is on all the first-night lists, Leon at L'Aperitif salutes him as 'Highness,' he is reputed to travel with his own linen sheets, punkah wavers, court chamberlains and sauce cooks .
From Time Magazine Archive
A hand-lamp on the mantelpiece diffused a yellow twilight through the room; a twilight flavoured with kerosine: and across the twilight the shadow of the punkah flitted, like a whispering ghost.
From The Great Amulet by Maud Diver
The punkah is something like an enormous fan suspended to the roof, and when a breeze is required, it is drawn backwards and forwards with ropes by the bearers.
From Norman Vallery or, How to Overcome Evil with Good by William Henry Giles Kingston
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.
