huzoor
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Ultimately from Arabic حُضُور (ḥuḍūr).
Noun
[edit]huzoor (plural huzoors)
- (dated, India) A potentate; often used as a term of respect.
- 1903, Flora Annie Steel, In the Guardianship of God, Read Books, published 2019, unnumbered page:
- "What are you using to thread the flowers?" I asked curiously.
"A woman's hair, Huzoor. It is always the hair of a woman who has died, but whose child has lived, that is used for Mai Âtma's crown. Shall I tell the story, Huzoor?"
"Was she beautiful?" I asked irrelevantly, why I know not.
"I do not know, Huzoor," he replied. "Am I not blind?"
- 1924, E. M. Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin, published 2005, page 15:
- ‘Here is my card. Call me a tonga.’
‘Huzoor, all are at the Club.’
- 2015, Madhulika Liddle, Crimson City, Hachette, unnumbered page:
- Muzaffar's instinctive rising to his feet to greet the man seemed to discomfit the man even more. ‘Huzoor,’ he said, with a gulp, ‘I beg you - do not inconvenience yourself -’ and, for no reason that Muzaffar could see, he flushed a dull scarlet. ‘I took the liberty of asking the chowkidar for the huzoor’s address,’ he explained, even though Muzaffar had not asked.
Further reading
[edit]- Henry Yule, A[rthur] C[oke] Burnell (1903) “huzoor”, in William Crooke, editor, Hobson-Jobson […] , London: John Murray, […], page 431.