dākn.
/dɑːk/, /dɔːk/, U.S. /dɑk/, /dɔk/ Anglo-Indian.
Post or transport by relays of men or horses stationed at intervals; a relay of men or horses for carrying mails, etc., or passengers in palanquins. to travel dāk: to travel in this way. to lay a dāk: to arrange for relays of bearers or horses on a route.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > [noun] > types of service > conveyance of mail by land or sea > by post-rider or coach
flying post1548
posting1556
postage1566
dāk1727
pony express1847
pony post1892
1727 [see Compounds 1].
1780 H. F. Thompson Intrigues of Nabob 76 I wrote..for permission to visit Calcutta by the Dawks.
1781 Hicky's Bengal Gaz. 24 Mar. Suffering People to paw over their Neighbour's Letters at the Dock.
1809 Visct. Valentia Voy. (1811) I. ii. 49 My arrangements had been made for quitting Burhampore..not only had the dawk been laid, but [etc.].
1825 R. Heber Jrnl. 26 Mar. in Narr. Journey Upper Provinces India (1828) II. xxv. 153 There is no regular system of dâk here.
1840 E. E. Napier Scenes & Sports Foreign Lands II. vi. 193 By having bearers posted at stated distances, which is called travelling ‘dawk’, long journeys are made in a comparatively brief space of time.
1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. III. xi. 204 After the sea voyage there isn't much above 1,000 miles to come by dauk.
Compounds
C1. attributive, as dāk-bag, dāk-bearer, dāk choky, dāk journey, dāk traveller, etc.
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1727 A. Hamilton New Acct. E. Indies I. xiii. 149 Those Curriers are called Dog Chouckies.
1796 in W. S. Seton-Karr & H. D. Sandeman Select. Calcutta Gaz. II. 185 The re-establishment of Dawk Bearers upon the new road.
1926 Blackwood's Mag. Nov. 587/1 An ‘Urgent’ dak bag arrived from the Agency with a letter from Baird.
1928 Blackwood's Mag. Jan. 5/2 The correspondence came to an abrupt stop. Great soggy chunks of silence filled the incoming dâk-bag.
C2.
dāk bungalow n. (rarely dāk house) a house for the accommodation of travellers at a station on a dāk route.
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1824 R. Heber Jrnl. 3 Sept. in Narr. Journey Upper Provinces India (1828) I. xii. 277 I will..bring it safe on to the next dâk-house.
1853 Calcutta Rev. July–Dec. 175 The dâk bungalows, the modern form of the Mogul Serais.
1866 Trevelyan (title) The Dawk Bungalow.
1866 Trevelyan Dawk Bungalow (1869) 98 Too old travellers to expect solitude in a dawk bungalow.
dāk-wallah n. a letter-carrier.
ΚΠ
1828 Asiatic Costumes 40 The dauk-wala is dispatched from the post-office every day with his bundle of letters.
1872 E. Braddon Life in India vii. 260 The arrival at any village of the dâk-walla (letter-carrier) with a letter is an event to be remembered and talked of.
1923 Blackwood's Mag. Nov. 678/2 My old dâk-wallah..had scented the battle from afar.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1894; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1727