panchway

English

Alternative forms

• panshway, paunceway, paunchway, paunsway

Etymology

From Bengali পানসি (panośi, “pinnace”), from English pinnace.

Noun

panchway (plural panchways)

1. (India, now historical) A Bengalese four-oared passenger boat. [from 18th c.]
   • 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 205:

     [A] Bengal boat called a paunceway came alongside, which Colonel Watson engaged to convey him to Calcutta.

   • 2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin, published 2015, page 42:

     With a gesture of acknowledgement, Parimal retreated down the ladder and soon afterwards, a slim paunchway pulled away from the Raskhali budgerow to nudge up alongside the Ibis.