dasturi

English

Alternative forms

• dustoore, dustooree, dustoorie, dustoory, dustore

Etymology

From Hindustani دستوری / दस्तूरी (dastūrī), from Classical Persian دستوری (dasturi).

Noun

dasturi (plural dasturis)

1. (India) A commission or duty charged by an agent; a kickback.
   • 1832 February, Langford Kennedy, Minutes of Evidence Taken Before the Select Committee on the Affairs of the East India Company, volume III,25:

     In all dealings between natives there is invariably a species of extortion, a sort of dustoory, which is given in all money transactions.

   • 2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin, published 2015, page 85:

     By dint of much pleading and cajolery they persuaded the old zemindar to add their money to the sums that he annually deposited with Mr Burnham: for this privilege they were content to pay the Halder estate a ten-percent dasturi on the profits […].

Anagrams

• Taurids

Swahili

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya):

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Noun

dasturi (n class, plural dasturi)

1. (nautical) bowsprit
2. Alternative form of desturi