howdah means A seat, usually with a canopy, carried on the back of an elephant or camel. It carries an Arena rating of 1356, earned across 105 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, howdah ranks #1,059 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #1,179 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #1,967 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words, #2,265 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
howdah is pronounced /ˈhaʊdə/.
Why “howdah” is a great word
HOWDAH — [Noun] A canopied and often ornate seat or carriage mounted on the back of an elephant or camel. From Hindi हौदा (haudā), from Arabic هَوْدَج (hawdaj, "litter carried by a camel"). First attested in English in 1774. Unlike a palanquin, which is a human-borne litter, or a saddle, which is a direct harnessing to the animal's muscle, the howdah is a mobile room, a platform of observation and remove. It is the creak of varnished wood against leather, the scent of polished teak and dust, and the privileged, lurching view over a sea of grass or a teeming bazaar—a sovereign's perch from which to survey a dominion that is always, unsettlingly, in motion.
Etymology
From Hindi हौदा (haudā), from Arabic هَوْدَج (hawdaj, “litter carried by a camel”) (1774).
noun
- A seat, usually with a canopy, carried on the back of an elephant or camel.e.g.“They don't ask for palanquins and howdahs.” — 1938, Raja Rao, Kanthapura:
- An ornate carriage which is positioned on the back of elephants or occasionally other animals, used most often in the past for rich people who travelled in India via elephant.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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