chikan

plural chikans

1. Any act of public molestation or offense, usually of a sexual nature, against unsuspecting victims.
2. A person, usually a man, who rubs against or gropes others, usually women, in crowds, often in trains, to attain sexual pleasure.

plural chikans

1. uncountableA form of Indian cotton embroidery that is associated with the Lucknow area.

   You know I help women who do the chikan embroidery work?

   2011, Subhadra Sen Gupta, The Secret Diary of the World's Worst Cook

   4 more examples

   A collection of Calcutta chikan-work. Sent by Patna Chikanwala and Sons of Taltala, Calcutta

   1885, Official Report of the Calcutta International Exhibition, page 34

   For many reasons, certain chikan stitches are not stem stiches or satin stitches —not even the technique is commensurate.

   1999, Clare M. Wilkinson-Weber, Embroidering Lives: Women's Work and Skill in the Lucknow Embroidery Industry

   In most markets, you will find amazing varieties in which chikan can be used: in bedspreads, napkins, curtains, cushion covers, besides sarees

   2004, Travel House Guide To Incredible India, page 74

   Dhaka was an important centre of chikan craft. It is said that Jahangir brought this craft to Lucknow and later it was whole-heartedly adopted by the Nawabs of Lucknow, thus it became a part of the culture of Lucknow.

   2010, Neel Mani Prasad Verma, I. C. Awasthi, Contractual Employment in Indian Labour Market: Emergence and Expansion, page 327

2. countableAn item (such as a sari, bedspread, cushion cover, etc) that is made with chikan embroidery.

   Hetal's family sends her suitcasefuls of exquisite Lucknow chikans, all in white.

   2003, Usha K. R., The Chosen, page 231

   2 more examples

   More and more people in India and abroad are getting familiar with the exquisite embroidered chikans of Lucknow, embroidered by the delicate and clever fingers of about 4000 ladies in and around the old city.

   1967, Traveller in India - Volume 11, page 31

   That's why he wanted Ammi and Asharfi to sell the house and join him in Delhi, away from the nose-picking, Ganj-strolling, chikan-wearing, coffee-drinking habits of a lifetime.

   2008, Mukul Kesavan, Looking Through Glass, page 324

alternative Ch'ih-k'an

1. A town in Kaiping, Jiangmen, Guangdong, China.

   1 more example

   Close to 4,000 households are being forced out of a centuries-old town on the western edge of the Pearl River Delta by their local government, which has teamed up with an investment firm to turn it into a tourist attraction. It’s not what the residents of Chikan’s old town expected when the nearby Kaiping diaolous – fortified, multi-storey dwellings – were put on the World Heritage List by Unesco in 2007.

   2017 August 28, He Huifeng, “Families who’ve lived in old Chinese town for generations being kicked out to make way for tourists”, in South China Morning Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 Aug 2017, China

   Synonyms: Chek Hom, Chekhom, Chik Hom, Chikhom