BOUTIQUE, s. A common word in Ceylon and the Madras Presidency (to which it is now peculiar) for a small native shop or booth: Port. butica or boteca. From Bluteau (Suppt.) it would seem that the use of butica was peculiar to Portuguese India.
[1548.—Buticas. See quotation under [SIND].]
1554.—"... nas quaes buticas ninguem pode vender senão os que se concertam com o Rendeiro."—Botelho, Tombo do Estado da India, 50.
c. 1561.—"The Malabars who sold in the botecas."—Correa, i. 2, 267.
1739.—"That there are many battecas built close under the Town-wall."—Remarks on Fortfns. of Fort St. George, in Wheeler, iii. 188.
1742.—In a grant of this date the word appears as Butteca.—Selections from Records of S. Arcot District, ii. 114.
1767.—"Mr. Russell, as Collector-General, begs leave to represent to the Board that of late years the Street by the river side ... has been greatly encroached upon by a number of [golahs], little straw huts, and boutiques...."—In Long, 501.
1772.—"... a Boutique merchant having died the 12th inst., his widow was desirous of being burnt with his body."—Papers relating to E. I. Affairs, 1821, p. 268.
1780.—"You must know that Mrs. Henpeck ... is a great buyer of Bargains, so that she will often go out to the Europe Shops and the Boutiques, and lay out 5 or 600 Rupees in articles that we have not the least occasion for."—India Gazette, Dec. 9.
1782.—"For Sale at No. 18 of the range Botiques to the northward of Lyon's Buildings, where [musters] (q.v.) may be seen...." India Gazette, Oct. 12.