nautch girl

plural nautch girls

1. BangladeshIndiaNepalPakistanSouth AsiaSri LankahistoricalobsoleteA dancing girl who performs the nautch.First known use 19th c.

   ‘I came about the nautch girl in your harem. Are you man enough to keep her under control?’

   1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, page 9

   3 more examples

   Great was the praise bestowed on the wise parrot, but the incensed nautch-girl said: “Be assured I will get you in my power; and when I do, I will bite off your head.”

   1869 February, “Hindoo Fairy Legends”, in The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, page 144

   ...one expected Wrangleresses on the legendary order of Phillippa Fawcett... but certainly not this nautch-girl extravagence of looks and self-possession that Yashmeen presented.

   2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, page 549

   ‘Best kind of native—kept himself busy with his shrub and his nautch-girls and his tumashers.’

   2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, page 47