α. 1700s–1800s notch.
β. 1700s– nautch.
γ. 1800s nach, 1800s natch.
nautchn.
/nɔːtʃ/, U.S. /nɔtʃ/, /nɑtʃ/ 1. In South Asia: a dance usually performed by one or more professional dancing girls; a performance of such a dance.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > Indian dancing > [noun] > exhibition of dancing
nautch1777
nautch dance?1800
nautching1802
α.
β. 1788 Calcutta Chron. 2 Oct. A Hindoo Nautch.1808 J. Mackintosh Jrnl. 26 Nov. in R. J. Mackintosh Life (1835) I. ix. 495 There I was seated, and I was obliged to undergo a nautch (or exhibition of dancing girls).1862 H. Beveridge Comprehensive Hist. India II. vi. viii. 781 Holkar was said to have had a grand nautch.1872 ‘Aliph Cheem’ Lays of Ind (1876) 2 One day this said verecund Mr. McPherson He chanced at a nautch to be present in person.1887 E. Arnold Lotus & Jewel 188 Heard at a Nautch, in Bhaonagar Palace, Nov., 1885.1967 A. Chujoy & P. W. Manchester Dance Encycl. 457/2 The repertoire of the Bharata Natya dancer includes nrtta, nrtya, and nautch... Nautch is a combination of song and dance.1990 C. Allen Savage Wars of Peace (1991) p. xxviii We had one dinner as officers and we had a nautch with the men, a Gurkha dance where the men dance for you.γ. 1808 Belfast News-let. 27 Dec. 4/3 His naches and plays given two years since in Triplicane.1815 T. Hall Songs & Occas. Poems (ed. 2) Notes & Explan. 205 A singer who lately performed at several Natches in Calcutta, from her vocal abilities, was designated by the European gentleman, ‘The Catalani of the East’.1849 E. B. Eastwick Dry Leaves 174 I pass over the usual festivities of a native marriage, and the Nách given me by Fazal.1777 J. Kindersley Lett. from E. Indies liv. 229 But the favourite and most constant amusement of the great..is called a notch; which is the performance of the dancing girls.
1796 E. Hamilton Lett. Hindoo Rajah (1811) I. 222 I was invited by the Governor-General to a notch, or, as they express it, a ball.
1818 J. Morier Second Journey through Persia ii. 19 He invited us to see a notch, or an entertainment of dancing women.
1827 D. Johnson Sketches Indian Field Sports (ed. 2) 210 Fifty people were at a notch, or Hindostanee dance.
ΚΠ
1872 R. Browning Fifine xxxi The Pariah of the North, the European Nautch!
Compounds
nautch dance n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > Indian dancing > [noun] > exhibition of dancing
nautch1777
nautch dance?1800
nautching1802
?1800 T. Hook Sutherlands in Merton 350 Mr. Lazenby begged Emma to give him only three things—the Persian Air, Palanquin-bearer's Song, and the Nautch Dance.
1967 R. Singha & R. Massey Indian Dances i. 37 It was beyond the conception of the Victorian Christian to imagine that faith could be expressed through so immodest and voluptuous a medium as the ‘nautch dance’.
1999 Dance Mag. (Nexis) 1 July 74 Sayeri Sapera..performed a wide-skirted twirling nautch dance with Musafir musicians.
nautch dancer n.
ΚΠ
1879 E. Arnold Light of Asia vi. 144 A band of tinselled girls, the nautch-dancers Of Indra's temple.
1949 S. J. Perelman Let. 24 Jan. in Don't tread on Me (1987) 83 The vessel kept executing what its skipper later described to us as a twenty-five degree roll, roughly comparable to what a nautch dancer does with her belly.
1997 T. Pynchon Mason & Dixon xvii. 177 For one silver shilling, you may view this remarkable Jewel..pluck'd from the Navel of an importantly connected Nautch-Dancer.
nautch girl n.
ΚΠ
1809 T. D. Broughton Lett. Mahratta Camp (1892) xi. 93 Two sets of Nach girls.
1859 L. Wallack Veteran iv. iii. 139 Oh! that's the approach of the Nautch girls.
a1901 R. W. Buchanan Sweet Nancy (1914) I. 17 Dress up like a Nautch girl and take a tambourine!
1981 S. Rushdie Midnight's Children 50 There was a beautiful nautch girl who would have looked more graceful if they hadn't made her dance in a ten-gallon cowboy hat.
ΚΠ
1825 R. Heber Jrnl. 23 Mar. in Narr. Journey Upper Provinces India (1828) II. xxv. 136 The Nâch women were, as usual, ugly.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† nautchv.
Obsolete. rare.
intransitive. To dance at or as at a nautch.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > Indian dancing > [verb (intransitive)] > exhibition of dancing
nautch1860
1802 [implied in: M. Elphinstone Jrnl. 8 Feb. in T. E. Colebrooke Life M. Elphinstone (1884) I. ii. 45 I do not know whether the dancing at Poona is particularly good, or whether I am getting accustomed to nautching; but I have liked it better since I came to Poona. (at nautching n.)].
1843 F. Bellew Mem. Griffin II. 32 You nautch superbly, Dilkhoob (for that was his name).
1860 R. F. Burton in Jrnl. Royal Geogr. Soc. 1859 29 266 They will fly to their drums, rush about, jump, and nautch, as if hung on wires.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1777
v.1802