[a. Hindī çankh:—Skr. chankha: cf. Pg. chanco, chanquo.] ‘A large kind of shell (Turbinella rapa) prized by the Hindus, and used by them for offering libations, as a horn to blow at the temples, and for cutting into armlets and other ornaments. It is found especially in the Gulf of Manaar’ (Col. Yule).
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 322 (Y.). There are others they call Chanquo; the Shells of which are the Mother of Pearl.
1727. A. Hamilton, New Acc. E. Ind., I. 131 (Y.). Chonk, a Shell-fish in shape of a Periwinkle, but as large as a Man’s Arm above the Elbow.
1798. T. Maurice, Hindostan, IV. iii. (1820), II. 276. Nor armed himself with any other panoply than the sacred chank.
1863. C. R. Markham, in Intell. Observ., IV. 420. Large conch shells called chanks.
2. Comb. and attrib., as chank-bed, -fishery, -shell.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Cinnamon & Pearls, i. 1. The chank beds that enrich the north-west coast of the island.
1845. Stocqueler, Handbk. Brit. India (1854), 372. The chank and pearl fisheries.
1859. Tennent, Ceylon, 471. Chank-shells contributed to swell the din.
