‖ Mahratta
(məˈrætə)
Also 8 Moratta, Maharattor, Morattoe, Mar(h)atta, Merhattah, 8–9 Mharatta, 9– Maratha.
[Hindī Marhaṭṭa.]
1. One of a Scytho-Dravidian race occupying the central and south-western parts of India.
| 1763 Scrafton Indostan (1770) 36 He was suddenly alarmed with an invasion of eighty thousand Mharattas. 1765 Holwell Hist. Events Bengal i. (1766) 105 These united princes and people are those which are known by the general name of Maharattors. 1778 R. Orme Hist. Milit. Trans. II. i. 32 An army of 80,000 Morattoes. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India I. 3 In the outset of the contest, native opinion had inclined to the Mahrattas. 1925 S. N. Sen Administrative Syst. Marathas (ed. 2) p. vii, The Marathas..engaged in a life and death struggle. 1971 R. Russell tr. Ahmad's Shore & Wave i. 10 The Mughal Empire fell and the Marathas overspread the land. |
2. The language of the Mahrattas. = Mahratti.
| 1837 Colebrooke Misc. Ess. II. 29 The Maháráshtra, or Mahrátta, is the language of a nation which has in the present century greatly enlarged its ancient limits. |
3. attrib. or adj. Pertaining to the Mahrattas.
Mahratta Ditch (or Mahratta Entrenchment): a ditch made in 1742 to protect Calcutta from invasion by Mahrattas; a similar ditch made at Madras in 1780.
| 1758 Ann. Reg. 285 There was a man who carried a large Moratta battle-ax on his shoulder. 1778 R. Orme Hist. Milit. Trans. II. i. 45 The Morattoe ditch. 1782 Indian Gaz. 10 Aug. (Y.), To the Proprietors and Occupiers of Houses..within the Mahratta Entrenchment. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) X. 563/2 Rajah Sahou, who considerably extended the Marhatta dominions. 1823 Sir J. Malcolm Mem. Central India II. 115 The Mahratta Brahmins. 1842 Tennyson Locksley Hall 155 Where in wild Mahratta-battle fell my father evil-starr'd. 1858 J. M. Mitchell Mem. R. Nesbit iii 65 The Maratha chiefs soon claimed to be the lords paramount of India. 1874 Lal Behari Day Govinda Samanta I iv. 25 The Calcutta cockney, who glories in the Mahratta Ditch. 1886 Kipling Departm. Ditties (ed. 2) 7 Rajah Rustum..Roused his Secretariat to a fine Maratha fury. 1913 E. M. Forster Let. 1 Jan. in Hill of Devi (1953) 21 Cocked rakishly over one ear was a Maratha Turban of scarlet and gold. 1942 R.A.F. Jrnl. 13 June 4 The Maratha heirs of Sivalji. 1973 Times 16 Jan. 12/2 For years..the cry of economic exploitation by the dominant Maratha caste to the south has been raised. |