E. Ind. Also [7 surmee,] 9 -meh, -mè, soorma, -ee. [a. Urdū = Pers. surma(h).] A black powder consisting of sulphide of antimony or of lead, used by Indian women for staining the eyebrows and eyelids.
[1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 56. They [sc. Turkish women] paint their Eye-brows and Eye-lids with a blackish colour, which they call Surmee.]
1819. T. Hope, Anastasius (1820), II. iii. 59. A pair of eyes … were not deemed to possess all their requisite powers, until framed in two black cases of surmeh.
1820. T. S. Hughes, Trav. Sicily, I. ix. 255. Their eyebrows … tinged with surmè.
1837. Royle, Ess. Antiq. Hindoo Med., 100. With it [sc. sulphuret of antimony], I believe, is frequently confounded the sulphuret of lead, which, in Northern India, is called soormee (ee is the feminine termination in Hindee) and used as a substitute for the former.
1896. S. H. Dunn, in Month, May, 33. Henna for her nails, kohl and soorma for her eyes.
1913. Col. H. S. Massy, in 19th Cent., May, 996. Shams-ud-Din blackened the edges of my eyelids with surma (antimony).
