Chapter LONG-SHORE WIND to LOOTY of L by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

LONG-SHORE WIND to LOOTY

LONG-SHORE WIND, s. A term used in Madras to designate the damp, unpleasant wind that blows in some seasons, especially July to September, from the south.

1837.—“This longshore wind is very disagreeable—a sort of sham sea-breeze blowing from the south; whereas the real sea-breeze blows from the east; it is a regular cheat upon the new-comers, feeling damp and fresh as if it were going to cool one.”—Letters from Madras, 73.

[1879.—“Strong winds from the south known as Alongshore winds, prevail especially near the coast.”—Stuart, Tinnevelly, 8.]

LONTAR, s. The palm leaves used in the Archipelago (as in S. India) for writing on are called lontar- leaves. Filet (No. 5179, p. 209) gives lontar as the Malay name of two palms, viz. Borassus flabelliformis (see PALMYRA, BRAB), and Livistona tundifolia. [See CADJAN.] [Mr. Skeat notes that Klinkert gives—“Lontar, metathesis of ron-tal, leaf of the tal tree, a fan-palm whose leaves were once used for writing on, borassus flabelliformis.” Ron is thus probably equivalent to the Malay daun, or in some dialects don, ‘leaf.’ The tree itself is called p’hun (pohun) tar in the E. coast of the Malay Peninsula, tar and tal being only variants of the same word. Scott, Malayan Words in English, p. 121, gives: “Lontar, a palm, dial. form of daun tal (tal, Hind.).” (See TODDY.]

LOOCHER, s. This is often used in Anglo-Ind. colloquial for a black-guard libertine, a lewd loafer. It is properly Hind. luchcha, having that sense. Orme seems to have confounded the word, more or less, with lutiya (see under LOOTY). [A rogue in Pandurang Hari (ed. 1873, ii. 168) is Loochajee. The place at Matheran originally called “Louisa Point” has become “Loocha Point!”]

[1829.—“… nothing-to-do lootchas of every sect in Camp. …”—Or. Sport. Mag. ed. 1873, i. 121.]

LOONGHEE, s. Hind. lungi, perhaps originally Pers. lung and lunggi; [but Platts connects it with linga]. A scarf or web of cloth to wrap round the body, whether applied as what the French call pagne, i.e. a cloth simply wrapped once or twice round the hips and tucked in at the upper edge, which is the proper Mussulman mode of wearing it; or as a cloth tucked between the legs like a dhoty (q.v.), which is the Hindu mode, and often followed also by Mahommedans in India. The Qanoon-e-Islam further distinguishes between the lunggi and dhoti that the former is a coloured cloth worn as described, and the latter a cloth with only a coloured border, worn by Hindus alone. This explanation must belong to S. India. [“The lungi is really meant to be worn round the waist, and is very generally of a checked pattern, but it is often used as a paggri (see PUGGRY), more especially that known as the Kohat lungi” (Cookson, Mon. on Punjab Silk, 4). For illustrations of various modes of wearing the garment, see Forbes Watson, Textile Manufactures and Costumes, pl. iii. iv.] 1653.—“Longui est vne petite pièce de linge, dont les Indiens se servent à cacher les parties naturelles.”—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, 529. But in the edition of 1657 it is given: “Longui est vn morceau de linge dont l’on se sert au bain en Turquie” (p. 547).

1673.—“The Elder sat in a Row, where the Men and Women came down together to wash, having Lungies about their Wastes only.”—Fryer, 101. In the Index, Fryer explains as a “Waste-Clout.”

1726.—“Silk Longis with red borders, 160 pieces in a pack, 14 Cobidos long and 2 broad.”—Valentijn, v. 178.

1727.—“… For some coarse checquered Cloth, called Cambaya (see COMBOY), Lungies, made of Cotton- Yarn, the Natives would bring Elephant’s Teeth.”—A. Hamilton, i. 9; [ed. 1744].

„ (In Pegu) “Under the Frock they have a Scarf or Lungee doubled fourfold, made fast about the Middle. …”—Ibid. ii. 49.

c. 1760.—“Instead of petticoats they wear what they call a loongee, which is simply a long piece of silk or cotton stuff.”—Grose, i. 143.

c. 1809-10.—“Many use the Lunggi, a piece of blue cotton cloth, from 5 to 7 cubits long and 2 wide. It is wrapped simply two or three times round the waist, and hangs down to the knee.”—F. Buchanan, in Eastern, India, iii. 102.

LOOT, s. & v. Plunder; Hind. lut, and that from Skt. lotra, for loptra, root lup, ‘rob, plunder’; [rather lunt, ‘to rob’]. The word appears in Stockdale’s Vocabulary, of 1788, as “Loot—plunder, pillage.” It has thus long been a familiar item in the Anglo-Indian Indian colloquial. But between the Chinese War of 1841, the Crimean War (1854–5), and the Indian Mutiny (1857–8), it gradually found acceptance in