pagoda
(pəˈgəʊdə)
Also 7 pagotha, pogodo, 8 pagodoe.
[ad. Pg. pagode, pl. pagodes (1516 in Yule), It. pagode, pl. -i; app. a corruption of a name found by the Portuguese in India. (Yule has no example of the form pagoda in 16th c. Pg. or It.; the -a appears to have been an Eng. representation of final -e.)
The native form imitated by the Pg. pagode is disputed: whatever it was, the Pg. appears to have been a very imperfect echo of it. Many take it to have been Pers. but-kadah idol-temple, f. but idol + kadah habitation; some suggest Skr. bhagavat holy, divine, or some current modification of that word: see Yule & Burnell s.v.]
1. a. A temple or sacred building (in India, China, and adjacent countries); esp. a sacred tower, usually of pyramidal form, built over the relics of Buddha or a saint, or in any place as a work of devotion.
| 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 190 The place where the great Pagotha stands. 1638 W. Bruton in Hakluyt's Voy. (1812) V. 49 At a great Pogodo or Pagod, which is a famous and sumptuous Temple. 1681 R. Knox Hist. Ceylon 72 The Pagoda's or Temples of their Gods are so many that I cannot number them. 1779 Burke Corr. (1844) II. 270, I could not justify to myself to give to the synagogue, the mosque, or the pagoda, the language which your pulpits so liberally bestow upon a great part of the Christian world. 1803 Wellington in Owen Desp. (1877) 369 Harcourt dispatched a letter to the principal Bramins of the pagoda of Juggernaut. 1899 F. T. Bullen Log Seawaif 289 The lofty shining summit of the great pagoda dominated everything else. |
b. fig. = Temple.
| 1762 Churchill Prophecy of Famine 69 In Love's Pagoda shall they ever doze. |
c. A small ornamental building or structure in imitation of an Oriental pagoda.
| 1796 Morse Amer. Geogr. II. 492 Their towers, the models of which are now so common in Europe under the name of pagodas. 1816 T. L. Peacock Headlong Hall iv, Pagodas and Chinese bridges..shall rise upon its ruins. 1860 All Year Round No. 52. 34 Purchased..at one of the little glass advertising pagodas..on the Boulevards. |
† 2. An idol or image;
= prec. 2.
Obs. rare.
| 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 235 Pagothaes, Idols or vgly representations of the Deuill, adored by the Indians. 1665 Ibid. 375 Many deformed Pagothas are here worshipped. |
3. A gold (less commonly a silver) coin formerly current in Southern India, of the value of about seven shillings.
| 1681 R. Knox Hist. Ceylon iv. ii. 126 A Gold Ring, a Pagoda, and some two or three Dollars and a few old Cloths. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. I. xxix. 365 They also coin Gold into Pagodoes of several Denominations and Value. 1774 Ann. Reg. 115 Each pagoda being worth about eight shillings on the par, with a rupee valued at two shillings and three pence. 1831 E. J. Trelawny Adv. Younger Son I. xxi. 170 He shook my hand, threw a bag of pagodas on the table. 1862 Beveridge Hist. India I. ii. vii. 344 Held of the King of Golconda at a quit-rent of 1200 pagodas, or about {pstlg}430. |
4. Short for
pagoda sleeve: see 5.
| 1900 Daily Mail 21 Apr. 7/4 The freshest fancy in sleeves is called the pagoda. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as
pagoda-like adj.,
pagoda-shaped adj.,
pagoda-structure;
pagoda-flower, the flower of the
pagoda-tree,
q.v.;
pagoda sleeve, a funnel-shaped outer sleeve turned back so as to expose the lining and inner sleeve, fashionable in the 18th and early 19th century;
pagoda-stone, (
a)
= pagodite; (
b) see
quot.| 1837 Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 62 The flowers have no perfume, except the *pagoda-flowers, and those are sickly. |
| 1860 O. W. Holmes Elsie V. xiii, Their boughs disposed in the most graceful *pagoda-like series of close terraces. 1874 L. Carr Jud. Gwynne I. vii. 174 A fanciful pagoda-like cage. |
| 1897 Outing (U.S.) XXIX. 586/2 Crowned with tall, *pagoda-shaped spires. |
| 1872 Queen 3 Feb. 71/2 *Pagoda sleeves..embroidered all over. Ibid. 1 June 391/3 Pagoda sleeves with rich lace ruffles beneath. 1873 Young Englishwoman Apr. 183/1 The casaque..has a large pagoda sleeve. 1889 Daily News 12 Nov. 3/1 It has ‘pagoda’, or ‘bell’ sleeves, now reappearing after a long interval. John Leech's pretty women in Punch wore bell sleeves. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 28 Sept. 3/2 The wide pagoda sleeves are not, in my opinion, nearly so pretty as the narrow little open sleeve with close-fitting sleevelets. 1952 C. W. Cunnington Eng. Women's Clothing ii. 33 A ‘pagoda sleeve’ (long and narrow, opening some five or six inches above the wrist with small white undersleeves). |
| 1868 Kingsmill Geol. China in Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. XXV. 126 At least one species of Orthoceratite.. They are much prized by the Chinese under the name of ‘*pagoda stones’, and sold at fancy prices. |
| 1845 G. Murray Islaford 26 The light *pagoda-structure of the larch. |