lascar

noun

1. (historical)A sailor from India or Southeast Asia, especially as serving on a European ship.

   “A motley crowd saunters along the streets — Lascars off a P. and O., blond Northmen from a Swedish barque, Japanese from a man-of-war, English sailors, Spaniards, pleasant-looking fellows from a French cruiser, negroes off an American tramp.”

   “...and what foreigner is it, exactly, that Pirate has in mind if it isn't that stateless lascar across his own mirror-glass, that poorest of exiles...”

   “As for the voyage itself, his account of Mauritius, where the ship stopped, saw the appearance of Muslim lascars.”

2. A tent-pitcher; also a type of artilleryman.
3. Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the Asian genera Pantoporia and Lasippa.