English

Noun

nautch girl ‎(plural nautch girls)

1. In South Asia, a dancing girl who performs the nautch. [from 19th c.]
   • 1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins 2013, p. 9:

     ‘I came about the nautch girl in your harem. Are you man enough to keep her under control?’

   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 549:

     one expected Wrangleresses on the legendary order of Phillippa Fawcett [...] but certainly not this nautch-girl extravagence of looks and self-possession that Yashmeen presented.

   • 2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin 2015, p. 47:

     ‘Best kind of native—kept himself busy with his shrub and his nautch-girls and his tumashers.’