Also 8– beasty, 9 beestie. [Urdū bhīstī, a. Pers. bihishtī, f. bihisht paradise; prob. of jocular origin.] In India, the servant who supplies an establishment with water, which he carries in a skin slung on his back.
1781. India Gaz., 24 Nov. (Y.). With the loss of only 1 sepoy, 1 beasty, and a cossy.
1810. T. Williamson, E. Ind. Vade-mecum, I. 229 (Y.). If he carries the water himself in the skin of a goat,… he then receives the designation of Bheesty.
1859. Lang, Wand. India, 63. Jehan, the bheestie’s daughter, was a virtuous girl.
1883. W. Baxter, Winter in Ind., ii. 22. Bheesties pressing water out of their pigskins to lay the dust.
