John Company, noun phrase
- Origin:
- Translation of Jan Compagnie.
An informal name for the Dutch East India Company (see Company).
- Note:
- In nineteenth-century British English the name ‘John Company’ was used of the British East India Company (taken over from the Dutch Jan Compagnie).
1941 C.W. De Kiewiet Hist. of S. Afr. 27The common picture of John Company — all purse and no conscience — is exaggerated.
1985 S. Afr. Panorama May 17The Dutch East India Company began to decline during the war between England and the Netherlands (1780–1783), as a result of John Company’s poor management.
An informal name for the Dutch East India Company (see Company).
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