Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A person who takes care of, rides, and controls a tamed elephant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In the East Indies, the keeper and driver of an elephant.
  • noun A coarse woolen cloth formerly manufactured in England and in the south of France, exclusively for export to the seaports of the Mediterranean, and particularly to Egypt.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun East Indies The keeper and driver of an elephant.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun an elephant driver and keeper

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the driver and keeper of an elephant

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Hindi mahāvat, mahāut, from Sanskrit mahāmātraḥ, one having great measure, mahout : mahā-, great; see meg- in Indo-European roots + mātram, measure (from mimīte, mā-, he measures; see mē- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Hindi  (mahāut), from Sanskrit  (mahāmātra, "high official"), from  (mahā, "great") +  (mātra, "measure")

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Examples

  • The word mahout comes from the Hindi words mahaut and mahavat, derivatives of the Sanskrit word mahamatra, meaning "[one] having great measure."

    Griffin And Hoxie Mega Feed 2010

  • The word mahout comes from the Hindi words mahaut and mahavat, derivatives of the Sanskrit word mahamatra, meaning "[one] having great measure."

    Griffin And Hoxie Mega Feed 2009

  • The word mahout comes from the Hindi words mahaut and mahavat, derivatives of the Sanskrit word mahamatra, meaning "[one] having great measure."

    Griffin And Hoxie Mega Feed 2009

  • "What do you call the mahout Trousers for?" asked Ned.

    The Rajah of Dah George Manville Fenn 1870

  • Its scarlet howdah was empty; its trappings were scarlet; the mahout was a Shan.

    AN AUSTRALIAN IN CHINA Morrison, George Ernest, 1862-1920 1895

  • These men, perched as they are on the elephant's neck, carry their lives in their hand, for should the tiger be wounded only, he will certainly make a spring for the elephant's head, and then the mahout is a dead man.

    Here, There and Everywhere Frederick Spencer Hamilton 1892

  • Its scarlet howdah was empty; its trappings were scarlet; the mahout was a Shan.

    An Australian in China Being the Narrative of a Quiet Journey Across China to Burma George Ernest Morrison 1891

  • It was always slipping forward or backward, and as I was heavier than the Malay lad, I was always slipping down and trying to wriggle myself up on the great ridge which was the creature's backbone, and always failing, and the mahout was always stopping and pulling the rattan ropes which bound the whole arrangement together, but never succeeding in improving it.

    The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thither Isabella Lucy 1883

  • The mahout is the fellow that sits on the elephant's neck and conducts him.

    Across India Or, Live Boys in the Far East Oliver Optic 1859

  • Kingsley William, 41, suffered cuts to his arm, head and ear when the elephant trainer and guide, known as a mahout, attacked him with a hook used for controlling elephants in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai.

    NEWS.com.au | Top Stories 2010

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