‖ catur Obs.
[Original language unknown: Portuguese writers call them catures: Capt. Burton has suggested identity with Arab. ‘katīreh, a small craft,’ but this seems phonetically unlikely; moreover Jal identifies the catur of Calicut with the Arab. almadia. Some would see in catur the source of cutter.]
‘A light rowing vessel used on the coast of Malabar in the early days of the Portuguese’ (Yule); according to Jal, a vessel 60 to 65 feet long, sharp at both ends and curving back, having both sails and oars.
| 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. vi. §1. Meanwhile a Catur arrived from the Town of Din with a Letter. 1686 Dryden Life Xavier iv. (1821) 200 They found a good bark of those they call catur, besides seven old foysts. |