E. Indies. Also 7 jahghir, jaggea, jageah, 8 jaguir(e, -ere, jagghire, 9 jaghir, -eer, jagir, -eer, (jagier, jahgeer). [a. Urdū (Pers.) jāgīr, f. jā place + gīr holding, holder.] An assignment of the king’s or government’s share of the produce of a district to a person or body of persons, as an annuity, either for private use or for the maintenance of a public (esp. military) establishment; also, the district so assigned, or the income derived from it.
1684. J. Phillips, trans. Tavernier’s Voy., etc. II. 70. The lands in the Kingdom being the King’s propriety … are given … as benefices which they call Jah-ghirs to men of the militia for their pay or pension [etc.].
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 120. Being in the Jaggea or Diocess of another. Ibid., 134. Were the ways free, it would enrich his Jageah beyond the Bunder at Surat.
1753. Hanway, Trav. (1762), II. Gloss., Jaguirs,… lands assigned to governors.
1764. Newcastle Chron., No. 1. 2/1. Lord Clive … is … to have the payment which have been stopped of his jaghire.
1778. Foote, Nabob, I. i. Should it be more agreeable to the parties, Sir Matthew will settle upon Sir John and his Lady, for their joint lives, a jagghire.
1800. Asiat. Ann. Reg., Misc. Tr., 291/2. This is the head town of a pergunnah of eight lacks of rupees, held in jaghire from the Peshwa.
1845. Stocqueler, Handbk. Brit. India (1854), 146. The revenue of the college [was] fixed at 30,000 rupees per annum, instead of the original jaghir.
1897. Ld. Roberts, 41 Yrs. India, lxviii. (1893), 533. Jagirs were sanctioned annually for a limited number of specially distinguished Native officers.
attrib. 1763. Scrafton, Indostan (1770), 24. The Jaghire lands, which are lands bestowed by the crown out of its demesnes to the Omrahs, for the support of their forces.
1801. R. Patton, Asiat. Mon., 203. The jagheer grants of the sovereign form an additional proof of his proprietary rights.
1818. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, I. II. v. 188. The collector in the jaghire district at Madras.
Hence ǁ Jaghirdar [Urdū jāgīrdār, f. jāgīr + Pers. -dār possessor.] The holder of a jaghire.
1794. Burke, Sp. agst. W. Hastings, Wks. XV. 385. The jaghirdars, the holders of jaghires, form the body of the principal Mahometan nobility.
1872. Colin Valentine, in Mem. Mrs. Valentine, vii. (1882), 114. It makes me one of the Jagirdars of the Rajah.
