Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Used as a form of address for a man in South Asia.
- noun A European man in colonial India.
- noun A male mountaineer employing Sherpas or porters in the Himalayas.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A term of respect used by the natives of India and Persia in addressing or speaking of Europeans: equivalent to Master or Sir, and even to Mistress: as, Colonel sahib; the sahib did so and so; it is the mem-sahib's command. (See
mem-sahib .) It is also occasionally used as a specific title among both Hindus and Mohammedans, as Tippoo Sahib.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun India A respectful title or appellation given to Europeans of rank.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun formerly, a term of
respect for awhite European incolonial India
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun formerly a term of respect for important white Europeans in colonial India; used after the name
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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It’s March 2005, and I’m just the 75th sap — or “foreigner,” in Mizo (from the colonial Hindi term sahib) — so far this year, and one of the few sap journalists to have shown an interest in the bamboo flowering, or in anything at all in Mizoram.
Waiting for the Plague Shoumatoff, Alex 2007
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I perceived within myself, saying, "He is disturbed, and listens to my advice with impatience;" and, having called the sahib diwan, or lord high treasurer, in virtue of a former intimacy that subsisted between us, I stated his case and spoke so fully upon his skill and merits, that he put him in nomination for a trifling office.
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And it appeared afterwards that during the night the Biluchis had recounted many fabulous incidents, all tending to show that the sahib was a very important as well as a very ingenious Firangi, so that this reputation, coupled with an offer of good pay, overcame any scruples the men might retain.
In Clive's Command A Story of the Fight for India Herbert Strang
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There were some, as it happened, who ventured to cross swords with him, but the result taught them that this stern-faced, black-bearded giant of a sahib was their master every whit as much as was Edwardes.
John Nicholson The Lion of the Punjaub R. E. Cholmeley
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Though an ardent supporter of empire, Kipling was in many ways an untypical "sahib," an individualist bent on exploring the forbidden, seamier side of the Punjab region for his fiction.
Rudyard and the Raj Elizabeth Lowry 2009
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Hillary, known to the Sherpa people as Burra-sahib, meaning ` ` big in stature, big in heart, '' returned to Nepal many times to climb.
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No "sahib", or downcast eyes, or humble tone, you notice.
Flashman and the Mountain of Light Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1990
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No "sahib", or downcast eyes, or humble tone, you notice.
Flashman And The Mountain Of Light Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1990
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Desmond asked himself the question without much interest, and was again allowing his thoughts to rove when he caught the word "sahib," and then the word "Firangi" somewhat loudly spoken.
In Clive's Command A Story of the Fight for India Herbert Strang
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All round the edge of the forest a continuous ring of wooden huts and white tents showed that the "sahib" on holiday intent had marked Gulmarg for his own.
A Holiday in the Happy Valley with Pen and Pencil T. R. Swinburne
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He figured it was his best shot at one day becoming known as a sahib—a sir, someone worthy of respect.
Trapped in Silicon Valley’s Hidden Caste System Condé Nast 2022
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