Glossary
Adjutant: the commanding officer’s principal staff officer, usually a captain
Aliwal: British victory in January 1846 during the First Sikh War
Angrez: the English
Ayah: native nurse or nanny
Babu: a clerk or teacher
Badmash: a ne’er-do-well
Bandook: a rifle or musket
Barnshoot: English corruption of the Hindi for the female genitals
BarnshootBat: the native language, so for British soldiers to ‘sling the bat’ suggested some fluency, even if it was only in barrack pidgin
Bat-ponies: baggage animals
Battalion: an infantry unit of seven to eight hundred men
Bhang: hashish
Bint: a girl, used pejoratively by the British
Bishti: a water carrier
Blown for: army expression relating to bugle calls. To be
‘blown for’ suggests one of the musical signals designed to summon de
