Topkhanan.
/ˈtəʊpˌkɑːnə/ 1. In Turkey: a gun-factory or arsenal, spec. the gun-factories in Galata, Constantinople (Istanbul), during the Ottoman Empire; hence (the current sense) the district of Istanbul adjoining them.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > named regions of earth > named cities or towns > [noun] > Constantinople
Rome1509
Topkhana1668
Phanar1753
society > armed hostility > military equipment > production and development of arms > [noun] > manufacture of firearms and ammunition > factory
Topkhana1668
laboratory1694
1668 P. Rycaut Present State Ottoman Empire (new ed.) iii. x. 200 Their quarters are at Tophana, or the place of Guns in the Suburbs of Constantinople.
1969 D. Walder Chanak Affair xix. 350 An enormous Turkish flag floated over the Tophana naval depot.
1974 J. F. Guilmartin Gunpowder & Galleys i. 44 The cannon foundries of the Tophane were directly dependent upon English tin which they could get only through Genoese entrepreneurs.
2. In India: artillery; ordnance department.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > armed forces > the Army > branch of army > [noun] > artillery > in India
Topkhana1656
1656 W. Jesson Let. 4 Dec. in W. Foster Eng. Factories India 1618–69 (1921) X. 73 The King, being resolved to renue the warr against Candahor, dispeeded Cossom Ckawn..with the tobeconah [tōp-khāna, artillery] for Lahore.
1765 J. Z. Holwell Interesting Hist. Events (1766) I. 96 By the treachery of the Tope Khonnah Droger, the cannon were loaded with powder only.
1842 C. Masson Narr. var. Journeys II. 256 From the court of the Dafta Khâna the Tope Khâna, or artillery ground, is entered.
1901 R. Kipling Kim iii. 67 I have known Him since he was a lieutenant in the top-khana (the Artillery).
1972 D. K. Palit Hist. Regim. Artillery i. 8 Although Shivaji had a regular department of Topkhana..he never had a foundry of his own. He managed to obtain some guns from the foundries at Surat..but by and large his Topkhana was described as a collection of ‘old and defective’ guns.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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