Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
roadside inn having a central courtyard wherecaravans can rest. - noun A home or shelter for
caravans .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an inn in some eastern countries with a large courtyard that provides accommodation for caravans
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The gardens to the north-east contain a caravanserai, which is fairly well kept and comfortable.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 "Baconthorpe" to "Bankruptcy" Various
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The caravanserai is a big, commodious affair, a quadrangular structure of brick surrounding fully an acre of ground, and with a small open space outside.
Around the World on a Bicycle - Volume II From Teheran To Yokohama Thomas Stevens 1894
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There were some 300 habitations in Agdah, the principal one with a large quadrangular tower, being that of the Governor; but both the Chappar khana and the caravanserai were the filthiest we had so far encountered.
Across Coveted Lands or a Journey from Flushing (Holland) to Calcutta Overland Arnold Henry Savage Landor 1894
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At the caravanserai is a traveller who says he hails from the Pishin
Around the World on a Bicycle - Volume II From Teheran To Yokohama Thomas Stevens 1894
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An inn of the Oriental pattern, often called caravanserai in books of travel.
Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official William Sleeman 1822
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a caravanserai is a picture of the world; men come in and go out of it, and no account is taken of them.
The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan James Morier
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Here we were to stay the night at a kind of caravanserai, set apart for emigrants.
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(Jer 42: 1-22). habitation to Chimham -- his "caravanserai" close by Beth-lehem.
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[FN#453] In northern Africa the "Dár al-Ziyáfah" was a kind of caravanserai in which travellers were lodged at government expense.
Arabian nights. English Anonymous 1855
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I am inspired this week to praise the "caravanserai" because it is where we all met in the age before steamships and aircraft.
milosrdenstvi commented on the word caravanserai
Hold, monsters! Ere your pirate caravanserai
Proceed, against our will, to wed us all,
Just bear in mind that we are Wards in Chancery,
And father is a Major-General!
-- The Pirates of Penzance
August 20, 2008
ruzuzu commented on the word caravanserai
One of my favorite albums. I bought it at a concert by Burhan Öçal and the Instanbul Oriental Ensemble way back in 2002. That's when I fell in love with the kanun.
March 4, 2011
chained_bear commented on the word caravanserai
"Although archaeologists have not found evidence of permanent buildings to house caravans, called caravanserai in Persian, anywhere in Sogdiana, some modern historians believe that the caravanserai originated in the region. The geographer Ibn H awqal described the ruin of a giant building that could house up to two hundred travelers and their animals, with food for all and room to sleep as well. Several Panjikent houses had courtyards large enough to house a caravan, and the word 'hotel' in Sogdian (tym) was borrowed from the Chinese word 'inn' (dian)."
--Valerie Hansen, The Silk Road: A New History (Oxford and New York: Oxford UP, 2012), 122
January 3, 2017