Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Used formerly as a title for military and civil officers, especially in Turkey and northern Africa.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A title of rank in Turkey, placed after the name.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An honorary title given to officers of high rank in Turkey, as to governers of provinces, military commanders, etc. The earlier form was bashaw.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun historical A high-ranking Turkish military officer, especially as a commander or regional governor; the highest honorary title during the Ottoman Empire.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a civil or military authority in Turkey or Egypt

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Turkish paşa, from Persian pādshāh; see Padishah.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ottoman Turkish پاشا (pāšā) (Turkish paşa); this either from Persian پادشاه (pādšāh, "padishah, king"), or from Turkish baş ("head"), or from Turkish beşe ("boy, prince"), this in turn from Persian بچّه (bačče).

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word pasha.

Examples

  • The pasha was a small, spare, dark little man, with his black beard clipped as close as scissors could do it.

    Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 22, September, 1878 Various

  • The pasha was a brave and energetic man of iron will, a great soldier and an expert architect.

    The Birth of Yugoslavia, Volume 1 Henry Baerlein 1917

  • As the affair went on with much detail of correspondence between the konak and the consulate for some weeks, it had attracted the general attention of our little public, and the final defeat of the pasha was a mortification to him which he made every effort to conceal.

    The Autobiography of a Journalist Stillman, William James, 1828-1901 1901

  • It turns out that the pasha is a beautiful woman, the slave of his mysterious lady-love, and she promises him speedy fulfilment of his wishes.

    Jewish Literature and Other Essays Gustav Karpeles 1878

  • As Mr. Connelly observes, the dispensers of population-control grants often enjoyed a kind of pasha existence.

    The War Against Fertility Martin Morse Wooster 2008

  • Determined to place a friend on the Libyan throne, Eaton led a former Libyan pasha—Hamet, who had been deposed and exiled by his younger brother Karamanli—plus nine Marines and 400 mercenaries on a sun-baked, two-month march of 500 miles from Egypt to Darnah, then Libya's second-largest city.

    The Star-Spangled Shores of Tripoli Stephen J. Marmon 2011

  • He can't have his dictatorship of the proletariat while his daughters and wife live as pasha divas.

    Lynch takes steps to run for Kennedy seat 2009

  • We would come home to find her reclining like a pasha, surrounded by relatives from Bint Jbeil, headscarved old hajjis and tiny old men who sat stiffly in straight-backed chairs pulled up around her as she regaled them with tales of The Operation.

    Day of Honey Annia Ciezadlo 2011

  • Posted October 4, 2009 at 2: 15 am | Permalink very nice! very modern and clean lines! pasha

    12 Modern Home Office Ideas : Cozy Enough? 2009

  • They imagine themselves as a Turkish pasha, a Saudi Prince or the Amir of Buchara, with dozens of nubile beauties vying for their favors, watching from the balcony the naked wifes bathing in the pool and dropping the handkerchief near the one chosen for the night.

    Polygamy: Facts Not Fear, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "...first Allen and then Graham explained that in the outlying provinces of the Turkish empire the valis, pashas, agas and beys, though in principle subject to the Sultan, often behaved like independent rulers, increasing their territories by usurpation or by making open war upon one another..."

    --Patrick O'Brian, The Ionian Mission, 260-261

    February 14, 2008