Bannian

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See also: bannian

English[edit]

Noun[edit]

Bannian (plural Bannians)

  1. Alternative form of banyan (trader or merchant belonging to the business class)
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter II, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, [], →OCLC, book III:
      This species of men, from the great severity with which they revenge the death of a hare or partridge, might be thought to cultivate the same superstition with the Bannians in India; many of whom, we are told, dedicate their whole lives to the preservation and protection of certain animals; was it not that our English Bannians, while they preserve them from other enemies, will most unmercifully slaughter whole horse-loads themselves; so that they stand clearly acquitted of any such heathenish superstition.