Crossword clues for palanquin
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Palanquin \Pal`an*quin"\, n. [F. palanquin, Pg. palanquim, Javan. palangki, OJavan. palangkan, through Prakrit fr. Skr. parya[.n]ka, palya[.n]ka, bed, couch; pari around (akin to E. pref. peri-) + a[.n]ka a hook, flank, probably akin to E. angle fishing tackle. Cf. Palkee.] An inclosed carriage or litter, commonly about eight feet long, four feet wide, and four feet high, borne on the shoulders of men by means of two projecting poles, -- used in India, China, etc., for the conveyance of a single person from place to place. [Written also palankeen.]
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"a covered litter," 1580s, from Portuguese palanquim (early 16c.), from Malay and Javanese palangki "litter, sedan," ultimately from Sanskrit palyanka-s "couch, bed, litter," from pari "around" + ancati "it bends, curves," related to anka-s "a bend, hook, angle," and meaning, perhaps, "that which bends around the body." Some have noted the "curious coincidence" of Spanish palanca, from Latin phalanga "pole to carry a burden."
Wiktionary
alt. A covered type of litter for a stretched-out passenger, carried on four poles on the shoulders of four or more bearers, as formerly used (also by colonials) in eastern Asia. n. A covered type of litter for a stretched-out passenger, carried on four poles on the shoulders of four or more bearers, as formerly used (also by colonials) in eastern Asia.
WordNet
n. a closed litter carried on the shoulders of four bearers [syn: palankeen]
Usage examples of "palanquin".
The Dorje Phamo travels in a palanquin carried by four heavily muscled males because she is the abbess of Samden Gompa, an all-male monastery some thirty klicks out along the south wall of the same ridge that holds the Temple Hanging in Air along its north wall.
It originates in a mistake in the meaning of the Turkish word kafe, which means a covered litter or palanquin drawn by two horses, and is generally used to convey the harem of an Eastern monarch.
A medley of foot passengers, carriages and palanquins went and came, and innumerable Chinese, oppressed by fatigue, carried back and forth heavy burdens from Tchin to Tchan, and from Tchan to Tchin, and Kouang said: It is the destruction of the canal which has given labor to these poor people.
Marano Toran who could, with honor, offer her aid when entering or leaving her palanquin.
As it did so, from the shrouded group of desert men one started forward to the palanquin, throwing off his burnous and gesticulating with thin naked arms, as if about to commit some violent act.
The courtyard was full of the wagons and carts and draft animals of stonemasons and carpenters and plasterers and gilders and such, and the conveyances of farmers and tradesmen purveying provender and necessities to the inhabitants of the palace city, and the mounts and carriages and porter-borne palanquins of other visitors come on other business from near and far.
Mariko got into the palanquin to more bows, hiding the trembles that beset her, and the cortege left.
Now I watch as the two women -- my young Aenea and the ancient form in the palanquin -- chat and laugh easily as both parties wait to cross the cableway across the Langma Abyss.
Laying his hands on the stuff of the palanquin he shouted again, then took away his hands and shook them above his head towards the desert, still staring at Domini with his fanatical eyes.
Browns and Grays, the Browns the vanguard, their leader in a palanquin, a few pack horses following.
The palanquins of hermetics glided amongst them: dark, upright boxes like metronomes.
A few hermetics had made the error of trying to force their way through the bazaar rather than finding a route around it, and now their palanquins were mired, harried by traders and tricksters.
Niklos had found a palanquin, Olivia had changed her dalmatica and paenula so that she was more formally attired.
By the time Niklos had found a palanquin, Olivia had changed her dalmatica and paenula so that she was more formally attired.
She had watched the sacred mountain grow as the procession of retainers and porters, sandal bearers, servants, maids, and palanquins approached it.