panchway

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Bengali পানসি (panośi, pinnace), from English pinnace.

Noun

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panchway (plural panchways)

  1. (India, now historical) A Bengalese four-oared passenger boat. [from 18th c.]
    • 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 205:
      [A] Bengal boat called a paunceway came alongside, which Colonel Watson engaged to convey him to Calcutta.
    • 2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin, published 2015, page 42:
      With a gesture of acknowledgement, Parimal retreated down the ladder and soon afterwards, a slim paunchway pulled away from the Raskhali budgerow to nudge up alongside the Ibis.