pirn.

1623 in W. Foster Eng. Factories India 1622–3 (1908) 222 The Kinge will goe to Agemeere to see a peare..and whatt the peere shall dyrectt him against his sonne Corom, thatt hee will doe.

1625 S. Purchas Pilgrimes I. iv. iv. §6 Divers Moores also resort to this Peer.

1672 H. Oldenburg tr. F. Bernier Contin. Mem. conc. Empire Great Mogol IV. 113 The Mullahs, who with great conveniency and delight spend their life there, under the shadow of the miraculous Sanctity of this Pire [Fr. Pire].

1839 Jrnl. Royal Geogr. Soc. 9 36 The Haft-tan were seven Pírs, or spiritual guides, who lived in the early ages of Islám.

1849 E. B. Eastwick Dry Leaves 121 He forthwith seeks out some Pir, or Holy Man, to whose wives he entrusts his child.

1900 M. C. Wilson Irene Petrie vi. 116 In calamity he turns to his pir to help him.

1966 L. Dupree Aq Kupruk in South Asia Series 10 8 The panjah we place on a ziarat gives thanks to Allah for his bountiful mercy, praises Hazrat Ali for his good works, and does honor to the pir in the ziarat.

1991 P. J. O'Rourke Parl. of Whores (1992) 158 Syed Ahmed Gailani..is a pir, a hereditary Sufi saint.

1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 240 Hard by this is a Peor, or Burying-place of one of their Prophets.

1882 E. A. Floyer Unexplored Baluchistan 73 Here was a pīr, or holy spot, on which Kuli reverently deposited a handful of wretched dates.

1998 Azerbaijan Internat. (Nexis) 6 44 Years passed, and rumors about the grave of a holy woman from Mohammad's family spread throughout the East. The site was declared a ‘pir’, or holy place.