hukumn.
/ˈhuːkəm/, U.S. /ˈhukəm/ India.
A command, order, or instruction from a person in authority. Also transferred (see quot. 1925).
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > command > command or bidding > [noun] > a command
wordOE
behestc1175
commandmentc1250
precepta1325
mandementc1325
saw1338
hotea1350
biddinga1400
highta1400
judgementc1405
order1543
imperea1546
command1552
shall?1553
impery1561
mandate1576
mandition1597
imperative1606
fiata1631
mitzvah1723
order of the day1804
hukum1838
prikaz1858
1838 E. Eden Let. 17 Dec. in Up the Country (1866) II. ii. 13 An officer came to ask his ‘hookum’, or orders.
1843 F. Sale Jrnl. Disasters Afghanistan 39 The troops..instead of receiving hookm to enter the city, the Shah almost rudely inquired why they had come!
1860 W. H. Russell My Diary in India 1858–9 II. xii. 226 We had no hookum from the commissioner or deputy.
1886 R. Kipling Departm. Ditties (ed. 2) 7 Roused his Secretariat to a fine Maratha fury, By a Hookum hinting at supervision of dasturi.
1895 B. M. Croker Village Tales (1896) 224 His coat was restored to him, with a ‘hookum’, to say that he was free.
1925 E. Fraser & J. Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 120 Hookum, a regulation. The correct thing, e.g., ‘That's the hookum’. An old Army colloquial term.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1838