[1875.—"As it is, we have to go ... 124 miles in a dak gharri, bullock shigram, or mail-cart...."—Wilson, Abode of Snow, 18.]
SHIKAR, s. Hind. from Pers. shikār, 'la chasse'; sport (in the sense of shooting and hunting); game.
c. 1590.—"Āīn, 27. Of Hunting (orig. Āīn-i-Shikār). Superficial worldly observers see in killing an animal a sort of pleasure, and in their ignorance stride about, as if senseless, on the field of their passions. But deep enquirers see in hunting a means of acquisition of knowledge.... This is the case with His Majesty."—Āīn, i. 282.
1609-10.—"Sykary, which signifieth, seeking, or hunting."—W. Finch, in Purchas, i. 428.
1800.—"250 or 300 horsemen ... divided into two or three small parties, supported by our infantry, would give a proper shekar; and I strongly advise not to let the Mahratta boundary stop you in the pursuit of your game."—Sir A. Wellesley to T. Munro, in Life of Munro, iii. 117.
1847.—"Yet there is a charm in this place for the lovers of Shikar."—Dry Leaves from Young Egypt, 3.
[1859.—"Although the jungles literally swarm with tigers, a shickar, in the Indian sense of the term, is unknown."—Oliphant, Narr. of Mission, i. 25.]
1866.—"May I ask what has brought you out to India, Mr. Cholmondeley? Did you come out for shikar, eh?"—Trevelyan, The Dawk Bungalow, in Fraser, lxxiii. 222.
In the following the word is wrongly used in the sense of Shikaree.
[1900.—"That so experienced a shikar should have met his death emphasises the necessity of caution."—Field, Sept. 1.]