Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An East Indian sailor, army servant, or artillery trooper during the era of European colonialism in Asia.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An artilleryman of an inferior class: a gun-lascar.
- noun In the East Indies, a native tent-pitcher, camp-follower, or regimental servant.
- noun An East Indian sailor.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun East Indies A native sailor, employed in European vessels; also, a menial employed about arsenals, camps, camps, etc.; a camp follower.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
sailor , armyservant orartilleryman fromIndia or SoutheastAsia .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a volcano in the Andes in Chile
- noun an East Indian sailor
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
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Examples
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Sailors from all around the Indian Ocean went by the name 'lascar'East Africans, South Asians, Filipinos, Chinese, Malays.
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The book is replete with the pidgin used by the lascar.
Book Review: Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh « A Progressive on the Prairie 2009
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The book is replete with the pidgin used by the lascar.
A Progressive on the Prairie » Book Review: Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh » Print 2009
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Reid is also looked on favorably by the lascar, natives of the Indian Ocean area who manned the European-owned ships, he ends up commanding on the way to Calcutta.
Book Review: Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh « A Progressive on the Prairie 2009
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Reid is also looked on favorably by the lascar, natives of the Indian Ocean area who manned the European-owned ships, he ends up commanding on the way to Calcutta.
A Progressive on the Prairie » Book Review: Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh » Print 2009
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This fellow, a lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that my secret was safe in his possession.
Sole Music 2010
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Both he and the lascar stoutly swore that no one else had been in the front room during the afternoon.
Sole Music 2010
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He has little time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street.
Sole Music 2010
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Had I been recognized in that den my life would not have been worth an hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own purposes, and the rascally lascar who runs it has sworn to have vengeance upon me.
Sole Music 2010
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At the foot of the stairs, however, she met this lascar scoundrel of whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street.
Sole Music 2010
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Throughout the 19th century a steady trickle of lascars – sailors from Africa, China and the Malay archipelago who manned British trading vessels – had been jumping ship as soon as they docked in London.
Sukhdev Sandhu · Come hungry, leave edgy: Brick Lane · LRB 9 October 2003 Sukhdev Sandhu 2019
chained_bear commented on the word lascar
"...as they came into the town, where tight-turbanned Lascars could be seen contemplating the iron-gangs with satisfaction..."
--Patrick O'Brian, The Nutmeg of Consolation, 355
March 9, 2008
reallifepixel commented on the word lascar
East Indian sailor
July 28, 2009
bilby commented on the word lascar
I wonder if they sail around a big watery oval, forever steering to port.
July 28, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word lascar
Honestly? That was my first thought.
July 28, 2009
dailyword commented on the word lascar
This word was used in a Sherlock Holmes episode "The Man With The Twisted Lip."
June 15, 2012