Kyrgyzn.adj.

1652 P. Heylyn Cosmographie iii. sig. Qqq5^v These again subdivided into severall Tribes, which they call their Hordes, of which the most considerable are, 1. the Nagaian Tartars, 2. the Zavolhenses, 3. the Thumenenses, 4. the Kirgessi.

1837 T. De Quincey in Blackwood's Mag. July 109/2 The murderous attacks of their cruel enemies the Bashkirs and the Kirghises.

1908 T. G. Tucker Introd. Nat. Hist. Lang. 134 Kirghiz, comprising the speeches of the Black Kirghiz (or Buruts) in the part of Turkestan bordering on China, and of the Cossack Kirghiz to the north of the Caspian, the sea of Aral and Lake Balkash.

1921 19th Cent. & After May 871 Kirghizes, Lesghiens, Mingrelians.

1932 R. John tr. Popoff City of Red Plague iii. 46 One could not help being struck by the large number of Mongolian types—torn by their Muscovite masters from the remote steppes and forests of Siberia and Asiatic Russia;..Kalmucks, Kirghiz, Yakuts, and similar obscure, semi-barbaric tribes.

1935 J. S. Huxley & A. C. Haddon We Europeans vii. 212 Ethnologists use the word [sc. Turki] loosely and in several different senses:—..(b) To designate a certain ethnic group of which the Turks, the Kirghis and the Tatars are best known.

1955 V. Cronin Wise Man from West xiii. 243 In this country of chasms and precipices roamed the Kirghiz, a predatory tribe.

1961 L. F. Brosnahan Sounds of Lang. viii. 177 A palatalisation of syllables..occurs in most of the Turco-Tartar languages of..Kirghiz, Turkmenian, etc.

1967 D. S. Parlett Short Dict. Lang. 73 Kirgiz.., apparently one of the oldest (or oldest attested) Turkic tribes.

1898 A. J. Butler tr. F. Ratzel Hist. Mankind III. 326 The Kirghiz women adorn their plaits with beads, shells, and copper buttons.

1922 C. W. Beebe Monogr. Pheasants III. 96 On the south-east the enormous Tian-Shan serve as the boundary between the Kirghiz Pheasant and both shawi and tarimensis.

1924 Blackwood's Mag. Aug. 256/1 The Russians, who were conscripting young Khirgese men for use on the railway.

1931 A. U. Dilley Oriental Rugs & Carpets x. 226 Kirghiz rugs..are country-bred, vigorous and coarse.

1963 D. A. Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles XII. 338 The Kirghiz pheasant Phasianus mongolicus Brandt. Commonly (but incorrectly) named the Mongolian pheasant, is distinguished by the broad white-ring around the neck interrupted in front, having the mantle, chest and breast bronzy orange-red... Introduced into England for Lord Rothschild in 1900.

1971 Whitaker's Almanack 966 The Kirghiz S.S.R. occupies the north-eastern part of Soviet central Asia and borders in the south-east on China.

1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 661/2 Tatar dialects (Kirghizian, Bashkiri, Nogai).

1922 Contemp. Rev. Sept. 342 The Kirgisian population has retained its nomadic habits.

1946 G. Millar Horned Pigeon i. 12 A dashing White Russian officer..spoke frequently of the Kirghesian sheep that drag their fat-containing tails behind them on little sleighs.