Rum-Johnny

noun

A native who loitered about the wharves of Calcutta seeking employment as a servant with newly arrived Europeans.

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Meanings

nounRum-Johnny (plural Rum-Johnnies)

plural Rum-Johnnies

  1. IndiahistoricalA native who loitered about the wharves of Calcutta seeking employment as a servant with newly arrived Europeans.

    At length, one of my own domestics informed me, that he was a Rum-Johnny who had been discharged from my service, in which he held the office of mosaulchy, (or linkboy,) for theft.

    1810, Thomas Williamson, The East India Vade-mecum, page 168
Cite this entry
APA

Rum-Johnny. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Rum-Johnny

MLA

“Rum-Johnny.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Rum-Johnny. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Rum-Johnny,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Rum-Johnny.

Source: Rum-Johnny on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.