Chapter BUCK to BUDDHA of B by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

BUCK to BUDDHA

BUCK, v. To prate, to chatter, to talk much and egotistically. H. bakna. [A buck-stick is a chatterer.]

1880.—“And then … he bucks with a quiet stubborn determination that would fill an American editor, or an Under Secretary of State with despair. He belongs to the 12-foot-tiger school, so perhaps he can’t help it.”—Ali Baba, 164.

BUCKAUL, s. Ar. H. bakkal, ‘a shopkeeper;’ a bunya (q. v. under BANYAN). In Ar. it means rather a ‘second-hand ’ dealer. [c. 1590.—“There is one cast of the Vaisyas called Banik, more commonly termed Baniya (grain - merchant). The Persians name them bakkál.…”—Ain, tr. Jarrett, iii. 118.]

1800.—“… a buccal of this place told me he would let me have 500 bags tomorrow.” —Wellington, i. 196.

1826.—“Should I find our neighbour the Baqual … at whose shop I used to spend in sweetmeats all the copper money that I could purloin from my father.”—Hajji Baba, ed. 1835, 295.

BUCKSHAW, s. We have not been able to identify the fish so called, or the true form of the name. Perhaps it is only H. bachcha, Mahr. bachcha (P. bacha, Skt. vatsa), ‘the young of any creature.’ But the Konkani Dict. gives ‘boussa—peixe pequeno de qualquer sorte,’ ‘little fish of any kind.’ This is perhaps the real word; but it also may represent bachcha. The practice of manuring the coco-palms with putrid fish is still rife, as residents of the Government House at Parell never forget. The fish in use is refuse bummelo (q. v.). [The word is really the H. bachhua, a well-known edible fish which abounds in the Ganges and other N. Indian rivers. It is either the Pseudoutropius garua, or P. murius of Day, Fish. Ind., nos. 474 or 471; Fau. Br. Ind. i. 141, 137.]

1673.—“… Cocoe Nuts, for Oyl, which latter they dunging with (Bubsho) Fish, the Land-Breezes brought a poysonous Smell on board Ship.”—Fryer, 55. [Also see Wheeler, Early Rec., 40.]

1727.—“The Air is somewhat unhealthful, which is chiefly imputed to their dunging their Cocoa-nut trees with Buckshoe, a sort of small Fishes which their Sea abounds in.”—A. Hamilton, i. 181.

c. 1760.—“… manure for the coconut-tree … consisting of the small fry of fish, and called by the country name of Buckshaw.”—Grose, i. 31.

[1883.—“Mahsir, rohu and batchwa are found in the river Jumna.”—Gazetteer of Delhi District, 21.]

BUCKSHAW, s. This is also used in Cocks’s Diary (i. 63, 99) for some kind of Indian piece-goods, we know not what. [The word is not found in modern lists of piece-goods. It is perhaps a corruption of Pers. bukchah, ‘a bundle,’ used specially of clothes. Tavernier (see below) uses the word in its ordinary sense.

[1614.—“Percalla, Boxshaes.”—Foster, Letters, ii. 88.

[1615.—“80 pieces Boxsha gingams”; “Per Puxshaws, double piece, at 9 mas.”— Ibid. iii. 156; iv. 50.

[1665.—“I went to lie down, my bouchha being all the time in the same place, half under the head of my bed and half outside.” —Tavernier, ed. Ball, ii. 166.]

BUCKSHEESH, BUXEES, s. P. through P.—H. bakhshish. Buonamano, Trinkgeld, pourboire; we don’t seem to have in England any exact equivalent for the word, though the thing is so general; ‘something for (the driver)’ is a poor expression; tip is accurate, but is slang; gratuity is official or dictionary English.

[1625.—“Bacsheese (as they say in the Arabicke tongue) that is gratis freely.”— Purchas, ii. 1340 [N.E.D.].

1759.—“To Presents:—

	R.	A.	P.
2 Pieces of flowered Velvet	532	7	0
1 ditto of Broad Cloth . .	50	0	0
Buxis to the Servants . .	50	0	0”

Cost of Entertainment to Jugget Set. In Long, 190.

c. 1760.—“… Buxie money.”—Ives, 51.

1810.—“… each mile will cost full one rupee (i.e. 2s. 6d.), besides various little disbursements by way of buxees, or presents, to every set of bearers.”—Williamson, V. M. ii. 235.

1823.—“These Christmas-boxes are said to be an ancient custom here, and I could almost fancy that our name of box for this particular kind of present … is a corruption of buckshish, a gift or gratuity, in Turkish, Persian, and Hindoostanee.”—Heber, i. 45.

1853.—“The relieved bearers opened the shutters, thrust in their torch, and their black heads, and most unceremoniously demanded buxees.”—W. Arnold, Oakfield, i. 239.