See Also: pandour(dictionary)

pandour (iou)



pandour noun. Also pandoor. M18.
[French pandour, German Pandur from Serbo-Croat pandur constable, bailiff, etc., prob. from medieval Latin banderius guard of cornfields and vineyards.]
Hist. A member of an 18th-cent. military force that was orig. the private army of a Croatian nobleman and later served under him as a regiment of the Austrian Army, where its members became feared for their rapacity and brutality; any brutal Croatian soldier. M18.
In parts of eastern Europe: a guard; an armed servant; a member of the local mounted constabulary. L19.