cutcherry

English

Alternative forms

• cutchery, katcheri, katcherry, kacheri

Etymology

Borrowed from Tamil கச்சேரி (kaccēri, “office, administrative office”).

Noun

cutcherry (plural cutcherries)

1. An administration office in India.
   • 1914, George Robert Aberigh-Mackay, Twenty-One Days in India; and, the Teapot Series‎^[1]:

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

   • 1909, Cecil Henry Bompas, Folklore of the Santal Parganas‎^[2]:

     He went to the cutcherry and enrolled himself as a muktear (attorney) and soon the litigants and the magistrates found out how clever he was and he acquired a big practice.

   • 1860, James Emerson Tennent, Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and‎^[3]:

     --Since the first edition was published, I have been told by a late officer of the Ceylon Government, that many years ago, what remained of the Dutch records were removed from the record-room of the Colonial Office to the cutcherry of the government agent of the western province: where some of them may still be found.

2. (India) A hall used for business, political, or social assemblies, such as a magistrate's court or a building housing a public agency.
   • 1807, Francis Buchanan, A Journey from Madras through the countries of Mysore, Cananara and Malabar, London:

     I walked through the ruins of the Fort of Bangalore ... it is not without some degree of magnificence. On the upper storey it contains four halls, each comprising two balconies of state for the prince, and each balcony faces a different Cutchery, or court for giving audience. No person, except a few trusty guards, were admitted into the hall with the Sultan: but at each end of the court was erected a balcony for the officers of the highest rank.

3. Kaempferia galanga, a plant resembling ginger.

See also

• kedgeree