nabobship

English

Etymology

nabob +‎ -ship

Noun

nabobship (plural nabobships)

1. (historical) The rank or condition of a nabob.
   • 1687, Records of Fort St. George, Diary and Consultation Book, Madras: 1916, entry for November 1687, p. 180,^[1]

     […] Potty Cawn was discharged from his Nabobship, and return’d to his Governm^t att Changalaput […]

   • 1768, Alexander Dow (translator), The History of Hindostan by Firishta, London: T. Becket and P.A. de Hondt, Volume 2, Section 2, p. 33,^[2]

     Abdulla, returning towards his government, was, the first night after his taking leave of the Nizam, found dead in his bed; not without suspicion of poison from Anwar ul Dien Chan, who succeeded him in the nabobship of Arcot, in the year 1157.

   • 1884, Dosabhai Framji Karaka, chapter 1, in History of the Parsis‎^[3], volume 1, London: Macmillan, page 50:

     The first enceinte [of Surat] was constructed some years after, and the second some more than fifty years ago, under the nabobship of Hyder Kuli Khan

   • 1987, Lin Carter, chapter 15, in Mandricardo‎^[4], New York: Daw, page 132:

     “ […] Cook’ll be servin’ ragout of peacock, Bird of Paradise on toast, broiled ibis, nightingale’s brains—yew feelin’ all right, yer nabobship?”

2. (figurative, archaic) A position of extremely great wealth.
   • 1772, James Iredell, letter dated 20 July, 1772, cited in Don Higginbotham (ed.), The Papers of James Iredell, Raleigh, NC: Division of Archives and History, Department of Cultural Resources, 1976, p. 109,^[5]

     […] an encumbered West India Estate, with the tax of high living, is no Nabobship, and an unfortunate Crop is a very severe shock to such a one.

   • 1792, Edmund Randolph, letter dated 25 May, 1792, cited in Frances Norton Mason (ed.), John Norton & Sons, Merchants of London and Virginia, New York: A.M. Kelley, 1968, p. 503,^[6]

     He bought a coachee, and had his own horses from home. They travelled [in] the stile of ancient Virginia Nabobship.

   • 1795, Noah Webster, quoted in the papers of Oliver Wolcott Jr., cited in Leonard D. White, The Federalists, New York: Macmillan, 1964, p. 273,^[7]

     If men, who are loading the govt with curses, & denouncing our Chief Magistrate, as a tyrant […] are to be raised to opulence and nabobship, […] who are the friends that will maintain that govt?

Translations

rank or condition of a nabob

• French: nababie (fr) f
• Italian: nababia f
• Portuguese: nababia f
• Spanish: nababía f