a. (sb.) Anglo-Indian. [a. Urdu = Arab. çadr foremost or highest part of a thing, chief place or seat, etc., used in comb. with adj. sense.] Chief, supreme: applied esp. to high government departments or officials.
1787. Gentl. Mag., 1181/2. The Court of Sudder Dewannee Adaulet.
1835. [see MOONSIF].
1845. Stocqueler, Handbk. Brit. India (1854), 342. Hydrabad is a collectorate, or Sudder station.
1850. Directions Rev. Off. N. W. Prov., 99. The Sudder Board of Revenue.
1897. G. Smith, Twelve Indian Statesmen, x. 253. The Supreme and Sudder Courts were amalgamated at the Presidency Towns.
b. ellipt. as sb. = Sudder Court.
1834. [A. Prinsep], Baboo, I. iii. 50 (Stanf. Dict.). I was trying to save myself from appearing a fool before my masters in the Sudder to-morrow.
1858. J. B. Norton, Topics, 150. In Madras, the Sudder consists of only three judges.
