manoos

plural manooses

1. IndiaA man, especially one who is unlucky or who has a tendency to complain.

   The use of the word 'outsiders' has radically changed the delicate equation between the 'real' Marathi manoos and those who throng to Mumbai in search of jobs.

   2015, Shobhaa De, Superstar India: From Incredible to Unstoppable, →ISBN

   4 more examples

   The foster-mother reported this to the Princess, observing that she was afraid to go near to the creature, not knowing whether it might not turn to be a demon, or a Jin, instead of a manoos or human being.

   1849, The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia

   It was thus considered disgraceful for the better classes, freemen and Hindoos, to hire them'selves for labour, and they have always avoided being employed as coolies as far as practicable, by pleading their right of “exemption as bhalo manooses or gentlemen."

   1860, Calcutta Review - Volume 35, page 52

   I think the party is about to end because the average marathi manoos is not in a mood to tolerate anyone, whether one of their own, or someone thrust on them via Delhi, who continues to give Mumbai such an awful name.

   2011, Sunil Sethi, The Big Bookshelf: Sunil Sethi in Conversation with 30 Famous Writers, →ISBN, page 56

   Fifty years on, the 'Marathi manoos' whose primacy the Sena and its offshoots seek to protect is imagined above all as an aggrieved petty government official, not a trader, nor an entrepreneur, nor a mill-worker.

   2016, Mihir Sharma, Restart: The Last Chance for the Indian Economy, →ISBN