begum

present singular third person begums · participle present begumming · participle past begummed · past begummed

1. transitiveTo daub or cover with gum.

plural begums

1. a high-ranking Muslim woman, especially in South Asia

   She was the daughter of an English officer, who having fallen in love with an Indian Begum gave up home, country, and friends, and married her.

   1872, James De Mille, The Cryptogram, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2009

   2 more examples

   He went to India with his capital, and there, according to a wild legend in our family, he was once seen riding on an elephant, in company with a Baboon; but I think it must have been a Baboo—or a Begum.

   1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 1, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC

   toxic politics dominated by the bitter infighting of the “battling begums” (the widow and daughter of former presidents, who lead the two main parties).

   2012, “Bangladesh: Out of the basket”, in The Economist

2. the form of address for such a woman

   1 more example

   It was a known fact that an envoy from an Indian Prince, a Colonel Altamont, the Nawaub of Lucknow’s prime favourite, an extraordinary man, who had, it was said, embraced Mahometanism, and undergone a thousand wild and perilous adventures was at present in this country, trying to negotiate with the Begum Clavering, the sale of the Nawaub’s celebrated nose-ring diamond, ‘the light of the Dewan.’

   1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 45, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC

plural Begums · alternative Begun

1. A surname of Bengali usage

plural Begums · alternative Begun

1. An honorific title from Central and South Asia, often used by leading women in society.