budgerow

English

The Padma, Rabindranath Tagore's family's budgerow

A budgerow from François Balthazar Solvyn's Manners, Customs and Dresses of the Hindoos (1790s)

Alternative forms

• bajra
• bugerow, budgeroe, budgero (obsolete)

Etymology

From Hindi बजरा (bajrā).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbədʒəˌroʊ/
• (India) IPA^(key): /ˈbədʒəroː/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbʌdʒərəʊ/

Noun

budgerow (plural budgerows)

1. (India, chiefly historical) A kind of large river barge. [1727]
   • 1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), chapter XV, in Duty and Inclination: […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 218:

     In a short time after a budgerow lay beside the vessel, and notice was given that it came to convey about fifteen passengers on shore.

   • 2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin, published 2015, page 39:

     A double-masted houseboat of capacious dimensions, the budgerow’s hull was painted blue and grey, to match the Raskhali estate's livery […]

Translations

Translations

• Hindi: बजरा (hi) (bajrā)

References

• “budgerow, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.