Black Hole of Calcutta
- noun
- /blæk hoʊl əv kælˈkʌtə/
:
Pozo Negro de Calcuta
- The prisoners were locked in the Black Hole of Calcutta overnight, enduring unbearable heat and darkness.
Examples
-
Survivors of the Black Hole of Calcutta recounted their terrifying experience of suffocation and despair.
-
The Black Hole of Calcutta.
Fiction book (1991) -
Many historical accounts describe the harsh conditions of the Black Hole of Calcutta as unforgiving.
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a proper-name for a specific historical event (a notorious prison cell in 1756) whose precise meaning — a small cell where many prisoners died of suffocation and heat — is not derivable from the constituents 'black' + 'hole' + 'Calcutta'. A learner who knows the words might only infer a literal dark hole in Calcutta or a negative place, but would not predict the historical/prison sense without prior exposure.
Etymology
Black Hole of Calcutta comes from a tiny, dark 'prison cell' in Fort William, Calcutta, where many prisoners were forced inside and 'suffocated' or died from the heat and lack of air. People used the words black and hole to paint the image of a small, deadly, dark space, so the name now refers to that tragic cell and the event.
