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baksheesh

or bak·shish, bak·shis

[bak-sheesh, bak-sheesh](in the Near and Middle East)
noun
  1. a tip, present, or gratuity.
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verb (used with or without object)
  1. to give a tip.
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Origin of baksheesh

First recorded in 1615–25, baksheesh is from the Persian word bakhshish gift
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for bakshish

Historical Examples

  • Bakshish they call it here too; that word accompanies you round the world!

    Round the Wonderful World

    G. E. Mitton

  • "Your nobility will remember the bakshish," said one of them to Ahmed as they started.

    Barclay of the Guides

    Herbert Strang

  • The Arabs who live in the mud hovels you see, raise fine vegetables here; and, like all Arabs, they will expect a bakshish.

    Asiatic Breezes

    Oliver Optic

  • Still more men and boys were gazing up at the ship and calling loudly for "bakshish."

  • My husband said he would pay for the twenty days and they would thus have thirty dollars as bakshish.

    Southern Arabia

    Theodore Bent

British Dictionary definitions for bakshish

baksheesh

backsheesh

(in some Eastern countries, esp formerly)
noun
  1. money given as a tip, a present, or alms
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verb
  1. to give such money to (a person)
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Word Origin

C17: from Persian bakhshīsh, from bakhshīdan to give; related to Sanskrit bhaksati he enjoys
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bakshish

baksheesh

n.

1620s, in India, Egypt, etc., "a tip," from Persian bakhshish, literally "gift," from verb bakhshidan "to give" (also "to forgive"), from PIE root *bhag- "to share out, apportion, distribute" (see -phagous).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper