[Hindi bābū.] orig. A Hindoo title of respect, answering to our Mr. or Esquire; hence, A native Hindoo gentleman; also (in Anglo-Indian use), a native clerk or official who writes English; sometimes applied disparagingly to a Hindoo or, more particularly, a Bengali, with a superficial English education. Hence Baboodom, -ism.
1782. India Gaz., 12 Oct. (Subscription-list), Cantoo Baboo … 200 Sicca Rupees.
1823. Heber, Indian Jrnl., 11 Oct. Some of the more wealthy baboos (the name of the native Hindoo gentleman answering to our esquire).
1854. Stocqueler, Brit. India, 120. The sircar, baboo, purvoe, or whatever he may be called, is the chancellor of the exchequer, and it is not unseldom … that his master is his debtor.
c. 1866. A. Lyall, Old Pindaree. I’d sooner be robbed by a tall man … Than be fleeced by a sneaking Baboo.
1870. Pall Mall Gaz., 18 July, 11. Baboodom is making ready for its great protest against education or any other cess in the meeting which is to be held here [Calcutta].
c. 1879. G. Aberigh-Mackay, 21 Days in India (1881), 49. However much we may desire to diffuse Babooism over the Empire, we must all agree that the Baboo itself is a subject for tears.
