Crossword clues for punkah
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Punka \Pun"ka\, n. [Hind. pankh[=a] fan.]
A machine for fanning a room, usually a movable fanlike frame
covered with canvas, and suspended from the ceiling. It is
kept in motion by pulling a cord. [Hindostan] [Written also
punkah.]
--Malcom.
Wiktionary
n. A type of large fan, common on the Indian subcontinent, especially made from a leaf or from cloth, typically hung from the ceiling, designed to cool a room, often operated manually by a servant.
WordNet
n. a large fan consisting of a frame covered with canvas that is suspended from the ceiling; used in India for circulating air in a room
Wikipedia
A punkah ( Hindi: , ) is a type of fan used since the early 500 B.C.. The word pankha originated from'' pankh'', the wings of a bird which produce a draft when flapped.
In its original sense in South Asia, punkah typically describes a handheld fan made from a single frond of palmyra palm or a woven square of bamboo strips, rattan or other plant fibre, that can be rotated or fanned. These are called punkah in Hindustani. These small handheld devices are still used by millions when ceiling fans stop working during frequent power outages.
In the colonial age, the word came to be used in British India and elsewhere in the tropical and subtropical world for a large swinging fan, fixed to the ceiling, and pulled by a coolie, called the punka wallah in India, during the hot weather. To cover a larger area, such as in an office or a courthouse, a number of punkahs could be connected together by strings so that they would swing in unison. The material used could range from utilitarian rattan to expensive fabrics. The date of this invention is not known, but it was familiar to the Arabs as early as the 8th century. It was not commonly used in India before the end of the 18th century.
The electric fan largely supplanted it in barracks and other large buildings at the beginning of the 20th century.
The term was carried over to punkah louvre, to refer to the outlet for cool air in aircraft, particularly those over the passenger seats.
Image:Melrose-natchez-2.jpg|A punkah in an antebellum house in Natchez, Mississippi Image:Punkahfans.jpg|Modern punkah fans at a hotel in Abu Dhabi (UAE)
Usage examples of "punkah".
How many times, in the merciless grinding heat of an Indian summer, lying panting under a flapping punkah that merely disturbed but could not cool the molten air, had he not yearned in imagination for the ice and frost and snow of an English winter ?
Alex could see the crouching figure of a punkah-coolie seated cross-legged in the shadows, his body bowing to the rhythmic tug and release of the rope, and from inside the room came the familiar flap and fall of the punkah cloth, a clink of bottles and glasses and the murmured Hindustani of the native servant.
The punkah flapping gently to and fro above their heads had drifted to a stop as the weary punkah-coolie dozed at his post, and Alex wondered tiredly why the Commissioner had found himself unable to go home.
Outside some one was pulling the punkah rope, and the great leaves of linen, attached to heavy teak poles, swayed back and forth over his head, stirring slightly the dense, humid atmosphere.
Bishop was reclining on the long chair on his verandah, while overhead the heavy punkah fans swayed to and fro, stirring the moist, warm air.
A horn lantern was suspended from the ceiling, and the air was unstirred by punkah, the heavy, foul air reeking with the sickening, pungent fumes of opium.
They sat beneath the revolving punkah fans at the long walnut table which extended to seat thirty persons and they talked about death.
One policeman has brought us fresh cocoa-nut milk, another sits outside pulling a small punkah, and two more have mounted guard over us.
The congregation sat under one punkah and the Resident under another, both being worked by bigoted Mohammedans!
Both heating and cooling apparatus could be installed in the shape of a motor to replace the punkah man and the present buzz-wheel fan, and to give fresh air without the opening of windows which leads to half our housekeeping miseries.
I sat with many a fine cigar on the verandah of my bungalow in Madras, and though one of the boys was always there to fan the punkah, I would perspire on my forehead and it was just part of smoking a good cigar out in India.
Cain and Abel were pulling the cords of the punkah, the maharajah-style fan that hung over the dining-room table to shoo away flies and provide a cool breeze.
Helen wondered if it was the sudden heat and insisted that Rosita should rest in her bedroom, cooled continuously by the punkah and dampened blinds at the windows.
The punkah was stopped and the wet blinds removed and when the vomiting ceased, Helen made Rosita drink a glass of strong brandy.
Gould lay in buttonless pajamas on a tousled bed beneath a punkah that had ceased to swing, unshaven, staring at the two intruders with eyes whose pupils were reduced to pin-points, conveying only mirage to the poisoned brain behind.