Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A person of high rank, especially in India.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In India: A chief or military officer; a person in command or authority.
- n. Same as sirdar-bearer.
Wiktionary
- n. A high-ranking person in India and other areas of west-central Asia; a chief, a headman.
- n. The leader of a group of Sherpa mountain guides.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A native chief in Hindostan; a headman.
- n. In Turkey, Egypt, etc., a commander in chief, esp. the one commanding the Anglo-Egyptian army.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an important person in India
Etymologies
- From Hindistani سردار, from Persian سردار, compound of سر (sar, "head") + دار (dar, "holder"). (Wiktionary)
- Hindi sardār, from Persian : sar, head; see ker-1 in Indo-European roots + -dār, holder; see dher- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“A couple of our porters were also suffering from the height, and Pasang, our Sherpa sirdar (leader), was worried.”
“In 1991 he joined International Trekkers (Nepal) as a sirdar.”
“The sirdar, a Bengali called Govinda, has a fifteen-year-old daughter, Soogee.”
The Wall Street Journal: 'The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul'
“Then, by chance, an Indian sirdar — a driver or overseer — learns that he is a Brahmin and can read Sanskrit.”
The Wall Street Journal: 'The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul'
“The sirdar liked his relationships distant and productive.”
“Intensely ambitious, Churchill was “deeply anxious to share” in the imminent clash between sirdar and khalifa.”
“He had forcefully suppressed any nationalist rumblings, even banning Wilfrid Blunt from entering the country, and had organized the training of a new Egyptian army, staffed by British officers and commanded by a new sirdar, Major General Francis Grenfell.”
“So long as the Egyptian surplus was under the control of the Commission of the Debt, and Baring and the sirdar could guarantee the Suez Canal and the India Route, Salisbury would permit no military operations.”
“Finding the sirdar on horseback with his staff, Churchill estimated that the khalifa could be little more than an hour away.”
“In 1890, Kitchener, aged forty, became brigadier general and sirdar.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sirdar’.
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POL - people in power
daredevil, tzar, king, boss, master, commander, chief, kingpin, top banana, bigwig, big cheese, big wheel and 452 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Take Me To Your Whosit
About leaders, particularly the authority-figure at the top of the tree.
leader, chief, boss, cap'n, executive, president, head, tsar, alpha male, alpha female, conductor, dean and 127 more...
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Quenelles of Random Palavery
More randomly-garnered terms from the world of words that don't quite yet fit into my other lists.
Goddidit, barcelona, filigrain, good-natured, ill-natured, half-bit, endosome, underplaying, parotid, denormalization, sleightgeist, wheezing and 2334 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for sirdar.
madmouth also sardar May 1, 2009