Afghann.adj.
/ˈafɡan/, U.S. /ˈæfˌɡæn/ A. n.
1. (a) A Pashtun, in later use esp. one from Afghanistan. (b) More generally: a native or inhabitant of Afghanistan; a person of Afghani descent. Cf. Afghani n. 3.
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the world > people > ethnicities > peoples of Afghanistan and Turkestan > [noun] > person
Kurd1609
Afghan1625
Rohilla1767
Afridi1784
Mohmand1815
Kaffir1834
Powindah1851
Sart1871
Shinwari1875
Guran1882
Afghani1966
1625 R. Steel & J. Crowther in S. Purchas Pilgrimes I. iv. xiii. 521 These Mountaines of Candahar, are inhabited by a fierce people called Agwans or Potans.
1742 J. Fraser Hist. Nadir Shah 97 Afghans are the several Tribes of Mohomedans, who inhabit the Northern Parts of India.
1784 H. Vansittart Let. 3 Mar. in Asiatick Researches (1791) 2 68 I venture to lay before the Society the translation of an abridged history of the Aghàns, a tribe at different times subject to, and always connected with, the kingdoms of Persia and Hindustàn.
1787 C. Hamilton Hist. Relation Rohilla Afgans 39 When a successor to Azmut-Oolah was appointed from Delhi, the Afgan found himself in a condition to make his own terms.
1815 M. Elphinstone Acct. Kingdom Caubul ii. ii. 165 The Pooshtoonwulle, or usage of the Afghauns; a rude system of customary law.
1842 C. Fox Jrnl. 28 May (1972) 124 Carlyle..was terribly amused. ‘Poor Little Queen! She'd be glad..if the Afghans would but submit to her conditions.’
1889 G. T. Bettany Teeming Millions of East xvi. 291 It was not till this century that the British had any dealings with the Afghans.
1928 W. Haig in Cambr. Hist. India III. vi. 160 The subsequent rebellions in Gujarāt and the Deccan were partly due to the severity of the restrictions placed upon Afghāns in India in consequence of Shāhū's revolt.
1974 Encycl. Brit. Micropædia I. 121/3 A national awakening began among the Afghans early in the 18th century.
2010 S. Junger War ii. vi. 153 Some of the Afghans were firing from the hip even though they didn't stand a chance of hitting anything that way.
2. The East Iranian language of the Pashtuns, the official language of Afghanistan; = Pashto n.
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the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [noun] > Indo-European > Indo-Iranian > Iranian > east Scythian > Pashto
push?1560
Pakhto1784
Afghani1826
Afghan1933
Pashto1964
Pashtun1973
1811 Christian's Mag. Nov. 628 Dr. Leyden, whose extensive knowledge of these dialects is unrivalled, has submitted to the Corresponding Committee of Calcutta proposals for procuring versions in the following languages: the Siamese, Macassar, Bugia, Afghan, Rakheng, Maldivian, and Jagatai.
1868 W. D. Whitney Lang. & Study of Lang. (ed. 2) v. 192 The Persian..with its outliers on the north-west and on the east—as the Armenian, the Kurdish, the Ossetic, and the Afghan.
1885 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 655/2 Afghan..is at bottom a pure Iranian language, not merely intermediate between Iranian and Indian.
1911 C. E. Stewart & B. Stewart Through Persia in Disguise 372 You enquired if I spoke Afghan or not, and I told you I could, but you never asked me whether I spoke Turki or not.
1933 L. Bloomfield Lang. iv. 62 The principal dialect areas of modern Iranian are..eastward, the Pamir dialects, Afghan (Pushto), with some 4 million speakers, and Baluchi.
1980 Daily Tel. 12 Jan. 18/3 Presumably Kinnock and his friends do not know Afghan either.
2011 H. B. Paksoy tr. A. Z. V. Togan Mem. v. 398 I indicated that it would be most appropriate to teach the classes in Afghan to the Afghan students.
3. A blanket or wrap of knitted or crocheted wool, usually made in strips or squares.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [noun] > loose clothing > wrap > types of
amicea1382
amytc1384
manto1679
manta1697
palla1706
wrapper1799
wrapa1817
Afghan1850
crossover1868
tea-wrap1909
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > household linen > bedclothes > [noun] > blanket > types of blanket
mantlec1300
fustian1424
Witney1716
rose blanket1759
under-blanket1819
Afghan1850
bluey1886
receiving blanket1891
electric blanket1893
Wagga rug1900
suggan1907
overblanket1970
1850 Rep. 6th Exhib. Mass. Charitable Mechanic Assoc. 153 Mrs. E. A. Murdock, Boston. Case of Worsted Articles. Mrs. M. sustains her former reputation, and for her beautiful Afghan deserves a Bronze Medal.
1868 E. Prentiss Let. 13 Dec. in G. L. Prentiss Life & Lett. E.P. (1882) 260 Mr. P. has come up-stairs rolled up in your afghan.
1887 F. R. Stockton Hundredth Man xxxii. 375 Miss Burns was crocheting an afghan.
1918 Rotarian Sept. 150 Grammar grade pupils of the Preventorium, the out-of-doors public school, have presented to the Albany (N.Y.) Rotary Club an afghan with the request that it be sent to Base Hospital 33, an Albany unit ‘over there’.
1947 J. Steinbeck Wayward Bus xiv. 195 The bedspread, now, a giant afghan she had knitted herself in little squares.
1989 E. Spencer in C. Anthony Family Portraits 225 She crocheted spreads and afghans.
2005 Cloth Paper Scissors Winter 96/2 She..knitted with my grandmother and their friends at Knitting Club, turning out..piles of those variegated afghans.
4.
a. = Afghan rug n. at Compounds.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > floor-covering > [noun] > carpet > coarsely woven
Afghan1888
1888 V. B. Denslow Princ. Econ. Philos. of Society, Govt., & Industry xii. 489 The names which still cling to many fine products of art, such as Ottomans, Damasks, ‘Turkish’ velvets and carpets, rugs, robes, and chairs,..Turkey red, Afghans, Cashmeres,..all indicate the high superiority which Turkish industry then maintained in the useful arts.
1901 Chamber of Commerce Jrnl. (London) June 137/2 Of the modern carpets, only the large Smyrna, the Persian.., and partly also the Afghan..are sought after.
1920 T. E. Lawrence Let. 16 Feb. (1938) 299 As for the rugs, please take any that seem worthy to you. There were two Afghans in the Arab Bureau.
1960 News Chron. 12 Sept. 6/4 Good quality Afghans, say 12 ft. × 9 ft., can cost anything from £110 to £250.
2001 A. Tyler Back when we were Grownups (2008) iii. 62 Rebecca's mother gazed thoughtfully at a rainbow afghan on the floor.
b. = Afghan coat n. at Compounds.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [noun] > coat > types of > made of specific material
skin coat1533
buff1598
buff coat1633
hair-camlet1676
duffel1852
Guernsey coat1859
rabbit1877
polo coat1880
lammy coat1916
sheepskin1917
teddy bear1925
ranch mink1934
Persian1957
Persian lamb1959
leathers1962
leopard1973
Afghan1974
sable1975
squirrel1978
1974 New Musical Express 16 Nov. 60 (advt.) Embroidered sheepskin Afghan supplied by top leading importer. Three-quarter length in various shades of brown with white shaggy hair and colourful embroidery, cleaned and washed to minimise smell.
2001 S. MacGowan in V. M. Clarke & S. MacGowan Drink with Shane MacGowan (2002) ii. 68 We despised hippies, who wore afghans.
5. = Afghan hound n. at Compounds.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > hound > [noun] > afghan hound
Afghan greyhound1851
barukhzy1895
Afghan1918
1918 Forest & Stream Sept. 568/3 There is some similarity between the face and ears of the Afghan and those of the Irish water spaniel.
1950 Oxf. Junior Encycl. IX. 191 Carvings on the walls of the Balkh caves of Afghanistan of about 2200 b.c. show that already an Afghan Hound, almost the same as the modern Afghan, was established in that country.
1973 Country Life 8 Feb. (Suppl.) 33/3 (advt.) Afghans and Salukis, also Ibizans and Pharaohs (with whom we will be at Crufts).
2002 J. Cunliffe Encycl. Dog Breeds (new ed.) 207/1 The Afghan is one of the most glamorous of the large breeds.
6. New Zealand. = Afghan biscuit n. at Compounds.
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the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > biscuit > [noun] > other biscuits
dorcake14..
cracknelc1440
hard breada1500
crackling1598
Naples biscuit1650
gingerbread man1686
chocolate biscuit1702
biscotin1723
sponge biscuit1736
maple biscuita1753
butter biscuit1758
nut1775
Oliver biscuit1786
funeral biscuit1790
rock biscuit?1790
ratafia1801
finger biscuit1812
Savoy drop1816
lady's finger1818
snap1819
Abernethy1830
pretzel1831
wine-biscuit1834
gingersnap1838
captain's biscuit1843
lebkuchen1847
simnel1854
sugar cookie1854
peppernut1862
McClellan pie1863
Savoy ring1866
Brown George1867
beaten biscuit1876
digestive1876
Osborne1876
Bath Oliver1878
marie1878
boer biscuit1882
charcoal biscuit1885
biscotti1886
fairing1888
snickerdoodle1889
pfeffernuss1891
zwieback1894
Nice1895
Garibaldi biscuit1896
Oswegoc1900
squashed fly1900
amaretto1905
boerebeskuit1905
Romary1905
petit beurre1906
Oswego biscuit1907
soetkoekie1910
Oreo1912
custard cream1916
Anzac1923
sweet biscuit1929
langue de chat1931
Bourbon biscuit1932
Afghan1934
flapjack1935
Florentine1936
chocolate chip cookie1938
choc chip cookie1940
Toll House cookie1940
tuile1943
pizzelle1949
black and white1967
Romany Cream1970
papri1978
1934 Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 9 Oct. 1/6 (advt.) Cooking demonstrations... Coconut fruit cakes. Also: Afghans. Melting moments. Cinnamon biscuits.
1961 Sure to rise Cookery Bk. (new ed.) (T. J. Edmonds, Ltd.) 11 Afghans... Soften butter, add sugar.., add flour, cocoa and lastly cornflakes... When cold ice with chocolate icing and put walnuts on top.
1989 T. Duder In Lane Three, Alex Archer (new ed.) xiii. 146 I was offered asparagus sandwiches and home-baked afghans.
2015 Dominion Post (Wellington, N.Z.) (Nexis) 9 May 10 I..could..make yummy biscuits like Anzacs, Afghans and date surprises.
B. adj.
1. Of or relating to Afghanistan or Afghans.
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the world > people > ethnicities > peoples of Afghanistan and Turkestan > [adjective]
Pathan1625
Afghan1742
Rohilla1768
Kurdish1806
Kurd1810
Hindki1815
Mohmand1815
Chorasmian1816
Hazara1826
Kaffir1834
Afghani1838
Zakka Khel1860
Pakhtun1867
Powindah1880
Thamudite1881
Sart1898
Thamudaean1909
Tajik1911
Thamudic1937
1742 J. Fraser Hist. Nadir Shah 96 The Event convinced the Afghan Officers of their Error.
1787 C. Hamilton Hist. Relation Rohilla Afgans 27 The Afgan Tartars, whose numerous tribes (under the general denomination of patans) occupy all the mountainous country which forms the North-western boundary of Hindostan.
1815 M. Elphinstone Acct. Kingdom Caubul ii. vii. 252 Wanton cruelty and insolence are no part of the Afghaun character.
1833 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus i. v, in Fraser's Mag. 8 670/1 Afghaun shawls.
1875 Encycl. Brit. I. 238 The Afghan chroniclers..claim descent from King Saul..through a son whom they ascribe to him, called Jeremiah, who again had a son called Afghâna.
1898 H. Newbolt He fell among Thieves in Island Race 68 He did not see the starlight on the Laspur hills, Or the far Afghan snows.
1935 J. Buchan Men & Deeds (1969) iv. 223 He had wanted Zobeir exiled to Cyprus; he now wished him to be a kind of Afghan Amir in the Soudan.
1978 L. Dupree in C. Maloney Lang. & Civilization Change in South Asia iv. 131 Dārī (Afghan Persian) dominates, in spite of periodic attempts by governments in power to substitute Pashto.
2010 Independent 12 Oct. 4/4 Well versed in Afghan culture, and a fluent speaker of Dari who was also learning Pashto, she was regarded by colleagues as more capable of surviving than most.
2. Designating or relating to the language of the Pashtuns, the official language of Afghanistan; = Pashto adj.
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the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [adjective] > Indo-European > Indo-Iranian > Iranian > Pashto or Saka
push?1560
Afghan1793
Pakhto1861
Saka1932
Pashto1962
1793 Brit. Critic June 121 This..is translated from a Persian abridgement, from the original Pushto, or Afghan language.
1815 M. Elphinstone Acct. Kingdom Caubul ii. iv. 191 I have had an opportunity of examining a list of about one hundred Curdish words, and I find among them five of the hundred and ten which I have mentioned as original Afghaun words.
1860 H. G. Raverty Guls̱ẖan-i-Roh p. v During the last sixty years..the cultivation of the Afg̱ẖān language has, comparatively, declined.
1897 Columbian Cycl. XVIII. at Lowenthal, Isidor He soon learned the Persian, Cashmiri, Hindostanee, Arabic, and Afghan languages;..and was completing an Afghan dictionary when his greatly useful career was cut short by an accidental death at Peshawur.
1951 Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. 71 97 (heading) Afghan descriptions of the Afghan (Pashto) verb.
2002 M. A. Mills in M. D. Muthukumaraswamy Voicing Folklore iii. xxii. 182 I think what I'd like to do is a monograph on Afghan texts with appropriate framing material that says, [etc.].
Compounds
Afghan biscuit n. New Zealand a type of chocolate biscuit, typically topped with cocoa icing and half a walnut.
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1934 Evening Post (Wellington, N.Z.) 31 May 15/1 (advt.) Aulsebrook's Afghan Biscuits, Treacle Nuts, Wheatflakes, all 6d. per pkt.
1994 R. Donald Colour of Midnight viii. 159 Shortly afterwards she decided to bake a large batch of Afghan biscuits.
2015 Dominion Post (Wellington, N.Z.) (Nexis) 9 May 1 Baughen said the guests would be served the house's signature egg sandwiches, along with lamingtons, carrot cake and afghan biscuits.
Afghan carpet n. any of several types of hand-knotted carpet, produced in different tribal nomadic and urban contexts, with repeated geometric motifs, often on a red ground; cf. Afghan rug n.
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1881 G. C. M. Birdwood Arts of India 69 Figure 1 is of an Afghan carpet; 2, of a Baluchistan carpet.
1922 A. F. Kendrick & C. E. C. Tattersall Hand-woven Carpets I. ii. iv. 191 Afghan Carpets. Carpets of this kind are known in the trade also as Bokhara.
1994 Face Jan. 94/2 Two years ago, Primal Scream were transported to us via Afghan carpets soaked in Southern Comfort and tetrahydrocannabinol.
Afghan coat n. a type of sheepskin coat or jacket worn with the skin side outside, sometimes embroidered and usually having a shaggy border.
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1878 Helena (Montana) Independent 27 July Gossamer and English Affghan coats warranted waterproof, weight eight ounces, at greatly reduced prices.
1899 Manch. Weekly Times 24 Nov. 15/2 The brute in one of his savage, purposeless thrusts had pierced the ground between his arm and his ribs, pinning his Afghan coat into the earth.
1973 New Musical Express 21 July 45/2 (advt.) Afghan sheepskin coat.
1980 N.Y. Times 11 Dec. 6 a/6 Special on Afghan coats, cheap.
2005 Computer Buyer May 36/1 Anyone who was anyone grew their hair, swapped the Fab Four get-up for an Afghan coat and settled down to a Summer of Love.
Afghan greyhound n. now rare = Afghan hound n.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > hound > [noun] > afghan hound
Afghan greyhound1851
barukhzy1895
Afghan1918
1851 G. A. Dalrymple Livingstones II. vii. 94 It is an Afghan greyhound, which, in a weak moment, I consented to bring home for a friend.
1905 H. de Bylandt Dogs of All Nations I. 767 (caption) Ideal Afghan greyhound.
1921 Country Life Jan. 59/1 The chief representatives of this tribe are the Slughi, Tazi, or gazelle hound..; the Barukhzy hound or Afghan greyhound; [etc.].
2009 C. Lambert On Pets & Men 17 My Gal was the most aristocratic-looking Afghan greyhound.
Afghan hound n. a tall gaze-hound (gaze-hound n.) with a long fine coat, developed in Afghanistan for hunting; a dog of this breed; cf. barukhzy n.
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1883 Times of India 27 Feb. 2/5 The second prize was awarded to an Afghan hound.
1925 E. M. Aitken Pets i. 28 The Kennel Club has two main divisions, sporting breeds and non-sporting breeds. These again are subdivided, the miscellaneous sporting kinds being Afghan Hounds, Basset Hounds, Beagles, [etc.].
1986 P. Conroy Prince of Tides (1987) xxiii. 512 You know how homosexuals are, Mom... Always flitting round..buying Afghan hounds.
2004 Dog World Oct. 9/2 Her photographs of..the windblown Afghan Hounds.
Afghan rug n. any of several types of hand-knotted rug, produced in different tribal nomadic and urban contexts, with repeated geometric motifs, often on a red ground; cf. Afghan carpet n.
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1870 Leeds Mercury 17 Dec. 8/1 Some splendid hearth rugs and valuable Afghan rugs.
1922 H. Clark (title) Bokkara, Turkoman and Afghan rugs.
1959 A. A. Michel Kabul, Kunduz, & Helmand Valleys & National Econ. Afghanistan i. vi. 229 A customs-free shop selling Afghan rugs and karakul caps.
2001 J. Coe Rotters' Club (2002) 165 He admired the cluttered Bohemianism of her flat, the careless way that beanbags and Afghan rugs jostled for attention with a full-length portrait.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.adj.1625