Obs. [Original language unknown: Portuguese writers call them catures: Capt. Burton has suggested identity with Arab. ‘katīreh, a small craft,’ but this seems phonetically unlikely; moreover Jal identifies the catur of Calicut with the Arab. ALMADIA. Some would see in catur the source of CUTTER.]
‘A light rowing vessel used on the coast of Malabar in the early days of the Portuguese’ (Yule); according to Jal, a vessel 60 to 65 feet long, sharp at both ends and curving back, having both sails and oars.
1653. H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., vi. § 1. 14. Mean while a Catur arrived from the Town of Din with a Letter.
1688. Dryden, Life Xavier, IV. 278. They found a good sufficient Bark, of those they call Catur: besides seven old Foysts, fit for nothing but the fire.
