‖ pukka, a. (n.) Anglo-Ind.
(ˈpʌkə)
Also 7–9 pucka, 8– pukka, pucker, 9 pakka, pucca, puckah, pukkha.
[a. Hindī pakkā (pʌkkaː) cooked, ripe, mature; hence thorough, substantial, permanent: cf. cutcha. Sense c is the only sense used outside Anglo-Indian contexts.]
A. adj. a. Applied to the larger of two weights of the same name: Of full weight, full, good; also, genuine, thorough. † b. Strong, severe; malignant, as a fever. Obs. c. Sure, certain, reliable; thorough, out-and-out. Also in general use outside India in various extended senses. Of things: real, not sham; of information: factually correct; of persons: authentic, not pretended; proper or correct in behaviour, socially acceptable. Freq. in pukka sahib (cf. sahib 1 b), used with allusion to life in the former British Indian Empire. d. Permanent, esp. as an appointment. e. Permanent, as a building; solidly-built, of stone or brick and mortar.
| a. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 205 The Maund Pucka at Agra is double as much [as the Surat Maund]. 1803 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1837) II. 43 It should be in sufficient quantities to give 72 pucca seers for each load. 1857 Ld. Lawrence in Bosw. Smith Life (1883) II. i. 11 Your Lahore men have done nobly... Donald, Roberts, Mac, and Dick are all of them, pucca trumps. 1893 G. Allen Scallywag I. 44 That's a good word... Is it pucker English, I wonder. |
| b. 1765 Martin in Phil. Trans. LVII. 219 Malignant fevers,..here termed pucker fevers, meaning (in the natives language) strong fevers. 1774 Barker ibid. LXV. 206 Pucker fevers. 1788 Stockdale Indian Vocab. (Y.), Pucka, a putrid fever. |
| c. 1776 Trial of Nundocomar 102/1 Maha Rajah said it was necessary to witness it to make it pukka. 1858 Col. Keith Young in Diary & Corr. (1902) App. D. 329 On receiving pucka information..that the Insurgents were at Singpore. 1894 Scribner's Mag. XV. 548/2 The Zinal-Rothhorn or ‘Moming’ is, to use an Anglo-Indian phrase, a ‘puckah’ mountain, which means that it is the real thing and not a sham. 1917 W. Owen Let. 17 July (1967) 477 It was better paid than by a pukka Editor's best guineas. 1919 J. Buchan Mr. Standfast i. v. 113 My boy's at home, convalescing, and if he says you're pukka, I'll ask your pardon. 1924 E. M. Forster Passage to India i. iii. 26 Mrs. Turton..remarked that Mr. Fielding wasn't pukka, and had better marry Miss Quested, for she wasn't pukka. 1929 S. Aumonier in Mercury Story Bk. 389 McLagan and Treadway were pukka soldiers of the old army. 1932 Daily Express 27 June 3/3 She wants also to play pukka golf. 1934 ‘G. Orwell’ Burmese Days v. 88 The smell of pukka sahibdom. 1938 N. Marsh Artists in Crime xix. 280 Don't be so ‘pukka sahib’. 1939 [see Poona]. 1942 T. Rattigan Flare Path i. 14 Pukka gen, sir. 1948 Observer 25 Apr. 2/1 Produced for the Government of Southern Rhodesia, that forty minute film..is one of many from British studios that are being specially commissioned to give straightforward information on important subjects—in fact ‘pukka gen’. 1955 Sci. Amer. Feb. 116/3 The injunctions and other brawling seem now to have subsided, with general agreement that while Buh may not be a pukka sahib, he is a peerless climber. 1966 ‘G. Black’ You want to die, Johnny? v. 85, I just played pukka sahib greeting faithful old native servant. 1967 Singha & Massey Indian Dances xviii. 157 These barracks once the epitome of pukka British army tradition, for many years echoed all day to the sounds and rhythms of Indian music. 1971 Daily Tel. 19 Oct. 19 At one time hotels were classed with brothels in the minds of pukka brewers. 1973 C. Mullard Black Britain iii. vii. 75 A list of the reconstituted Board in 1968 showed all the new members, with the exception of two, to be pukka members of the white Establishment. 1973 Times Lit. Suppl. 30 Mar. 340/2 A small but pukkah group defending the last tatty remnants of colonial gentility. 1976 Physics Bull. Nov. 480/1 What it does show is a pucka trade union doing a proper trade union job. 1977 Radio Times 12–18 Nov. 15/1 The two genuinely brown faces in It Ain't Half Hot Mum belong to a Pakistani and a Bangla Deshi. He is the only pukka Indian in sight. |
| d. 1800 Misc. Tracts in Asiatic Ann. Reg. 160/1 Near it the Nurbudda springs from a small pucka-coond or well that furnishes a perennial stream. 1866 Trevelyan in Fraser's Mag. LXXIII. 215 The Dawk Bungalow; or, Is his Appointment Pucka? |
| e. 1784 Calcutta Gaz. 22 Apr. (Y.), The House, cook-room, bottle-connah, godown, etc., are all pucka-built. 1811 Mrs. Sherwood Henry & Bearer 2 A lady, who lived..in a large puckah house near the river. 1862 Torrens Trav. Tartary 321 Pucka is an adjective, and when applied to a road, means it is a metalled one; when to a wall, that it is solid masonry. 1897 Daily News 17 June 5/7 At Dhubri all pakka buildings have been demolished. |
B. n. a. A weight or system of weights which is larger than ‘cutcha’.
b. A copper coin not now used; also
pucka piece.
c. A building material of permanent nature, such as brick.
| 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. xxxiii. II. 9 Fort William was built..of Brick and Morter called Puckah, a Composition of Brick-dust, Lime, Malasses, and cut Hemp. c 1813 Mrs. Sherwood Ayah & Lady i. 12 I'll make her a present of two puckah, to purchase cotton for a beginning. |