E. Indies. Also 8 jemmahdaur, 8–9 jemautdar, 9 jemat-, jummah-, jemma-, jemi-, jamadar. [Urdū jamasdār, f. Pers. (Arab.) jamāsat body of men, jamas collection, aggregate + Pers. dār holder.]
A native officer in a Sepoy regiment, ranking next below a subahdar, and corresponding to a lieutenant; the name is also given to certain officers of police and other civil departments, and to the head of a body of servants.
1763. Orme, Hist. Mil. Trans. (1803), I. 257 (Y.). The jemautdars, or captains of these troops, received his bribes.
1788. Gentl. Mag., LVIII. I. 67/2. M’Culloch … sent in a flag of truce with a Jemmahdaur.
1799. Wellington, in Suppl. Desp. (1858), I. 353. The Jemadar’s party of the Bengal volunteers.
1800. Asiatic Ann. Reg., Misc. Tracts, 24/1. Their jemidars were in actual correspondence with the Shah Zadah.
1826. Hockley, Pandurang Hari, v. The principal officers are called jummahdars.
1836. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7), XII. 495/1. Jamadar, an officer of horse or foot, in Hindustan.
1897. Ld. Roberts, 41 Yrs. India, xlvii. (1893), 364. The Jemadar of the Pathan Company knew who the culprits were.
