BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA Definition & Meaning

Black Hole of Calcutta

noun

a small dungeon in which in 1756 the Nawab of Bengal reputedly confined 146 English prisoners, of whom only 23 survived
informal.
any uncomfortable or overcrowded place

Black Hole of Calcutta

A cell in the jail of a British fort in Calcutta , India . In the middle of the eighteenth century, British and Indian troops clashed at the fort. The Indian troops drove a reported 146 defenders of the fort into the cell, which measured about fifteen by eighteen feet. Many had suffocated by the next morning.

Discover More

Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

For my first paper, I chose to write about the Black Hole of Calcutta, only to discover that the name had nothing to do with astronomical black holes, much less the all-nude musical “Oh! Calcutta!”

From

A prisoner consigned to one might as well have been sent to the Black Hole of Calcutta with no escape, no recourse, no hope.

From

For most of them I might as well have been living in the Black Hole of Calcutta.

From

This might be because some venues so resemble the Black Hole of Calcutta that even sitting down and doing nothing can be exhausting.

From

Tay Rail Bridge collapse Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee British soldiers imprisoned in Black Hole of Calcutta The death toll was actually 75 when the bridge collapsed as a train crossed it.

From

black hole black horehound

Browse

51�Թ�