1957 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 12/2 Exquisite work in chain stitch is characteristic of the Punjab, Rajputana and Cutch. In one type, known as shishadar.., small pieces of mirror glass are introduced into the design and bound down by stitching round them.]

1967 E. Short Embroidery & Fabric Collage 15 (caption) Indian ‘shisha’ or mirror embroidery.

1973 E. Wilson Embroidery Bk. (1975) vii. 349 Any crewel stitches could be combined with shisha work, but traditionally the stitches used were limited to herringbone, chain, cretan, and French knots.

1981 Good Housek. Embroidery 84 Shisha stitch... Materials. Shisha glass or large sequins.

1987 Workbox Spring–Summer 42/2 (advt.) Lots of small beads, shisha mirrors, snake skins.

1832 New Monthly Mag. 35 255 No one understands the art of smoking better than his Highness. His richly carved silver sheesha borne by a glossy Nubian eunuch, in scarlet and golden dress, was a picture.

1840 W. R. W. Wilde Narr. Voy. Madeira I. x. 289 Each village is governed by a sheykh,..who is generally found seated..before his door, smoking the tchibouk or sheesheh, leading a life of extreme idleness.

1854 Notes & Queries 15 July 49/2 When we consider how entirely the..sheesha in Egypt, and the nargilly in Persia, is part and parcel of the orientalist,..we are almost led to suppose that his use of tobacco is of immemorial antiquity.

1967 Times 10 Aug. 6/4 Wearing an Arab headdress and smoking a sheesha (narghile) for hours in an Arab coffee-house, one..slowly reaches the mainstream of feeling.

1987 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 20 Sept. 14 Nearly every corner has a cafe or coffeehouse filled with men bubbling away on exotic looking glass and brass shishas.

2001 J. C. Grimwood Pashazade (2003) xlv. 292 He..took the offer of an ornate sheesha and the evening paper.

1985 Washington Post 25 Dec. a20/1 Some prepare the shisha for men to smoke out of hookahs.

1995 Moneyclips (Nexis) 17 Feb. More than 500 shops and supermarkets in Jeddah have stopped selling cigarettes and shisha, as a result of the anti-smoking campaign.

2003 enRoute Mar. 26/2 At night, the cafés along the Corniche, like cafés everywhere else in Egypt at night, are full of men drinking tea, smoking shisha and playing backgammon.