[Fr., a counter, counting-house, office:—L. type *computātōrium, in med.L. a counting table, f. computātor reckoner.] A commercial agency or factory (in a foreign country).
1722. Journ. thro’ Eng., I. 231. At Amsterdam … and Venice, every particular Country have their several Comptoirs for Letters.
1808. A. Parsons, Trav., xi. 227. Tellicherry, the only settlement belonging to the English East India Company on this coast … the other places being only comptoirs by permission of Hyder Ally. Ibid., 237. This is the only French settlement on this [side of] India, that at Surat … being only a comptoir.
