baksheesh
Americannoun
verb (used with or without object)
noun
verb
Etymology
Origin of baksheesh
First recorded in 1615–25, baksheesh is from the Persian word bakhshish gift
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He was, says David Damrosch, appalled by the hygiene, revolted by the sight of a kebab, too naive to pay the small baksheesh that could have eased every transaction.
From BBC ● Mar. 21, 2015
Financial leverage, or baksheesh, can work only up to a point with leaders struggling to control the bewilderingly diverse and ferocious energies unleashed by the Arab Spring.
From New York Times ● Sep. 24, 2012
To put a stop to this, it has been necessary to offer special baksheesh in proportion to the size of the pieces.
From The New Yorker ● May 6, 1955
Border guards were in on the baksheesh system entrenched in the culture.
From Newsweek
As in the East, where to refuse baksheesh is to lay oneself open to the curse of the evil eye, the beggar was regarded as the chief possessor of this bespelling member.
From Legends & Romances of Brittany by Spence, Lewis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
