1682.—"The Moores ... dranke a little milk and water, but not a drop of wine; they also dranke a little sorbet, and jacolatt (see [JOCOLE])."—Evelyn's Diary, Jan 24.
1827.—"On one occasion, before Barak-el-Hadgi left Madras, he visited the Doctor, and partook of his sherbet, which he preferred to his own, perhaps because a few glasses of rum or brandy were usually added to enrich the compound."—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter, ch. x.
1837.—"The Egyptians have various kinds of sherbets.... The most common kind (called simply shurbát or shurbát sook'har ...) is merely sugar and water ... lemonade (ley'moónáteh, or sharáb el-leymoón) is another."—Lane, Mod. Egypt., ed. 1837, i. 206.
1863.—"The Estate overseer usually gave a dance to the people, when the most dissolute of both sexes were sure to be present, and to indulge too freely in the shrub made for the occasion."—Waddell, 29 Years in the W. Indies, 17.
SHEREEF, s. Ar. sharīf, 'noble.' A dignitary descended from Mahommed.
1498.—"The ambassador was a white man who was Xarife, as much as to say a creligo" (i.e. clerigo).—Roteiro, 2nd ed. 30.
[1672.—"Schierifi." See under [CASIS].
[c. 1666.—"The first (embassage) was from the Cherif of Meca...."—Bernier, ed. Constable, 133.
1701.—"... ye Shreif of Judda...."—Forrest, Bombay Letters, i. 232.]
SHERISTADAR, s. The head ministerial officer of a Court, whose duty it is to receive plaints, and see that they are in proper form and duly stamped, and generally to attend to routine business. Properly H.—P. from sar-rishtā-dār or sarishta-dār, 'register-keeper.' Sar-rishtā, an office of registry, literally means 'head of the string.' C. P. Brown interprets Sarrishtadār as "he who holds the end of the string (on which puppets dance)"—satirically, it may be presumed. Perhaps 'keeper of the clue,' or 'of the file' would approximately express the idea.