E. Ind. Forms: 8 konker, concha, 9 conca, concher, conker, kankur, -ar, kunkar, -er, -ur. [Hindī kankar = Prakrit kakkaram, Skr. karkaram.] A coarse kind of limestone found in many parts of India, in large tabular strata, or interspersed throughout the surface soil, in nodules of various sizes; it is burned to lime, and also used for constructing roads, binding to a compact, hard and even surface.
1793. W. Hodges, Trav. India, 110. The river Jumna, the sides of which consist of what in India is called concha.
1810. T. Williamson, E. Ind. Vade-mecum, II. 13. A weaker kind of lime is obtained by burning a substance called kunkur.
1834. Medwin, Angler in Wales, I. 195. A round mass of ‘concher’ … which he rolled before him.
1859. R. F. Burton, Centr. Afr., in Jrnl. Geog. Soc., XXIX. 102. Small calcareous nodules of weatherworn ‘kunker.’
1879. Medlicott & Blanford, Geol. India, I. 397. In places the kankar forms compact beds of earthy limestone.
attrib. 1847. Mrs. Sherwood, Lady of Manor, III. xxi. 239. The site of his habitation was on a conca rock. Ibid. (18[?]), in Life, xxiii. 381. Our long, long voyage terminated under a high conker bank.
1895. Mrs. B. M. Croker, Village Tales (1896), 169. There he sat, on the kunker heap.
