Dictionary

pagod en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈpaɡəd/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈpæɡəd/ (General-American)
• /pəˈɡɑd/ (General-American)
• /pəˈɡɒd/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Variant form of pagoda.

Meanings

1. (archaic) Synonym of idol, particularly in South and Southeast Asia.
   • 1814, Lord Byron, Journal in Thomas Moore, The Life of Lord Byron, with his Letters and Journals, London: John Murray, 1854, p.233, https://books.google.ca/books?id=oa88AAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false Offered to take Scrope home in my carriage; but he was tipsy and pious, and I was obliged to leave him on his knees praying to I know not what purpose or pagod.
   • At each spontaneous tribute rendered by the wayfarers to this black pagod of a fellow—the tribute of a pause and stare, and less frequent an exclamation,—the motley retinue showed that they took that sort of pride in the evoker of it which the Assyrian priests doubtless showed for their grand sculptured Bull when the faithful prostrated themselves. 1924, Herman Melville, chapter 12, in Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co.:
   • 1705, William Wotton on A Tale of a Tub, in Jonathan Swift: The Critical Heritage, Kathleen Williams (ed.), 2002, London: Routledge, p. 46, How strictly do the Banians, and the other Sects of the Gentile East-Indians worship their Pagods, and respect their Temples?
   • 1688, Gabriel Magalhaens, A New History of China, translator not credited, London: Thomas Newborough, p. 259, https://books.google.ca/books?id=fUQI3KVX4bIC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false If they say that the King is more powerfull, How comes it then to pass, say we, that the King throws himself upon his Knees before the Pagod, and adores him by bowing his head to the Earth?
   • A Drawing Room mantelpiece of the 1740s... was decorated with a classical bust enveloped by a motley assemblage of ‘pagods’ and whimsical Oriental figures. 1992 June, Christie's International Magazine, page 7:
   • They worship idols called pagods, after such a terrible representation as we make of devils. 17th c., Edward Stillingfleet (1635-1699), cited in Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language, 1755
2. (alt-of, alternative, archaic) Alternative form of pagoda, various structures, a former coin.
   alt of pagoda
   alt of various structures
   • The Money which the English Coin at the Fort of St. George upon the Coast of Cormandel, they call Pagods (as those of the Kings and Raja's of the Country are called) are of the same weight for goodness, and pass at the same value, which is about the weight of the French half Pistol; but the Gold is of baser Metal, […] 1700, Robert Morden, Geography Rectified, or A Description of the World, London: R. Morden & T. Cockerill, page 334:
   • We went to vizet the antient monumentes of Japon, and amongst the rest the pagod, or monument, erected in remembrance of Ogosho Samma, the last Emperour, which, in my opinion, is the most magnificent peece of work which I have seene in Japon, both for the greatenesse and workmanship. 1618, Richard Cocks, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson, Diary of Richard Cocks, Cape-Merchant in the English Factory in Japan, 1615-1622, with Correspondence, volume II, New York: Burt Franklin, page 75:
   • The altar of St. Peter's choir, notwithstanding all the ornaments which have been lavished upon it, is no more than a heap of puerile finery, better adapted to an Indian pagod, than to a temple built upon the principles of the Greek architecture. 1766, Tobias Smollett, Travels through France and Italy, Letter XXXI:
   • See'st thou yon river, whose translucent wave, / Forth issuing from the darkness, windeth through / The argent streets o' th' city, imaging / The soft inversion of her tremulous domes, / Her gardens frequent with the stately palm, / Her pagods hung with music of sweet bells, 1829, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Timbuctoo”, in The Works of Alfred Tennyson, volume XII, Boston: Dana Estes & Co., published 1895, page 293:
   • 1735, Alexander Pope, Satire IV, Satires, in The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, edited by Henry Walcott Boynton, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1903, lines 364-7, http://www.bartleby.com/203/156.html 'T would burst ev'n Heraclitus with spleen / To see those antics, Fobling and Courtin: / The Presence seems, with things so richly odd, / The mosque of Mahound, or some queer pagod.

Forms

Synonyms

particularly in South and Southeast Asia · idol