bashi-bazouk
Syllables: ba·shi-ba·zouk/ˌbæʃibəˈzuːk//ˌbæʃibəˈzuk/
bashi-bazouk noun: an irregular soldier of the Ottoman army, reputed to be brutal and undisciplined.
Noun (1)
bashi-bazouk (plural bashi-bazouks)
- An irregular soldier of the Ottoman army, reputed to be brutal and undisciplined.
- The plundering habits of the Bashi-Bazouks have been blamed in bitter language by well-paid correspondents of our press, who forget that the Bashi-Bazouk wanted clothes, food, money—was a starving zealot to a cause which could not support him.1855 December, “Who are the Kings of the East?”, in William Tait, Christian Isobel Johnstone, editors, Tait’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume XXII, Edinburgh: Sutherland & Knox; London: Partridge & Co....
- The Egyptians are not a military people, and have no liking for military service. There is nothing of the swashbuckler or Bashi-Bazouk about them.1893 October, C[lement] B[oulton] Roylance Kent, “Life in Modern Egypt”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine, volume CCLXXV, number 1954, London: Chatto & Windus, […]...
- One who does work outside regular employment; an irregular.
- Hard-working boys are these juvenile Bashi-Bazouks of the newspaper trade. And I am glad to observe, for the edification of social economists, with scarcely an exception, very honest boys.1859, George Augustus Sala, “Five o’Clock a.m.—The Publication of the ‘Times’ Newspaper”, in Twice Round the Clock; or The Hours of the Day and Night in London. […], London: Houlston and Wright, […]...
- In spite of the temporary invasion of that Bashi-Bazouk of card games, Baccarat—whose very existence is, in the eyes of all sober denizens of the clubs, an outrage and a scandal—whist steadily keeps its pre-eminence amongst us.1878 March, Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym], “Table Talk”, in Sylvanus Urban, editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine, volume CCXLII, number 1767, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 380
Noun (2) capitalized: Bashi-Bazouk
Bashi-Bazouk (plural Bashi-Bazouks)
- Alternative letter-case form of bashi-bazouk.
- The plundering habits of the Bashi-Bazouks have been blamed in bitter language by well-paid correspondents of our press, who forget that the Bashi-Bazouk wanted clothes, food, money—was a starving zealot to a cause which could not support him.1855 December, “Who are the Kings of the East?”, in William Tait, Christian Isobel Johnstone, editors, Tait’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume XXII, Edinburgh: Sutherland & Knox; London: Partridge & Co....
- Hard-working boys are these juvenile Bashi-Bazouks of the newspaper trade. And I am glad to observe, for the edification of social economists, with scarcely an exception, very honest boys.1859, George Augustus Sala, “Five o’Clock a.m.—The Publication of the ‘Times’ Newspaper”, in Twice Round the Clock; or The Hours of the Day and Night in London. […], London: Houlston and Wright, […]...
bashi-bazouk meaning in Arabic, Indonesian and Persian
bashi-bazouk in Arabic
- irregular soldier of the Ottoman army
- باشبوزق
bashi-bazouk in Indonesian
- irregular soldier of the Ottoman army
- bashi-bazouk
bashi-bazouk in Persian
- irregular soldier of the Ottoman army
- باشیبوزوق
Examples of bashi-bazouk in a sentence
- In May 1876 the crisis deepened when Turkish irregular troops, known as bashi-bazouks, put twelve thousand Bulgarian Christians to the sword in a frenzy of blood-letting.1990, Peter Hopkirk, “Captain [Frederick] Burnaby’s Ride to Khiva”, in The Great Game: On Secret Service in High Asia, London: John Murray...
- [B]etween here and the capital, the Bulgars were powerless; the faintest stirrings would unloose a whirlwind of janissaries and spahis and later on, and perhaps the worst, bashi-bazouks.2013, Patrick Leigh Fermor, “A Hanging Glass Box”, in Colin Thubron, Artemis Cooper, editors, The Broken Road: From the Iron Gates to Mount...
- Its Bashi-Bazouk irregularity was too flagrant to escape the notice and censure of less interested reformers, although no overt proceedings were taken until the year 1839.1883 April 14, R. W. Giles, “Pharmaceutical Politics”, in The Pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions, volume XIII, number 668 (3rd...
Forms of bashi-bazouk
| plural | bashi-bazouks |
|---|---|
| alternative form | bashibazouk |
| alternative form | Bashi-Bazouk |
| plural | Bashi-Bazouks |
Origin of bashi-bazouk
Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish باشی بوزوق (başıbozuk, “civilian; irregular soldier”, literally “broken head”) (whence modern Turkish başıbozuk; possibly alluding to the soldiers being effectively leaderless, or to them acting “crazy”), from باشی (possessive of باش (baş, “head”)) + بوزوق (bozuk, “broken; in poor condition”).
Words formed from bashi-bazouk
Words that rhyme with bashi-bazouk
Questions about bashi-bazouk
- What does bashi-bazouk mean?
- Bashi-bazouk means an irregular soldier of the Ottoman army, reputed to be brutal and undisciplined.
- What is bashi-bazouk in Arabic?
- Bashi-bazouk in Arabic is باشبوزق. See Bashi-bazouk meaning in Arabic.
- How do you use bashi-bazouk in a sentence?
- In May 1876 the crisis deepened when Turkish irregular troops, known as bashi-bazouks, put twelve thousand Bulgarian Christians to the sword in a frenzy of blood-letting.
- What part of speech is bashi-bazouk?
- Bashi-bazouk is a noun.
- How do you pronounce bashi-bazouk?
- Bashi-bazouk is pronounced /ˌbæʃibəˈzuːk/ (UK).
- What is the plural of bashi-bazouk?
- The plural of bashi-bazouk is bashi-bazouks.
Words near bashi-bazouk in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bashi-bazouk (page history and authors); Bashi-Bazouk (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-bashi-bazouk.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-bashi-bazouk.wav.
Cite this entry: “bashi-bazouk.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bashi-bazouk. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.