Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
Hindu priestlycaste ; one of the four varnas or social groups based on occupation in ancientHindu society. - noun One who has
realized or attempts to realizeBrahman , i.e.God orsupreme knowledge . - noun A
scholar ,teacher ,priest ,intellectual ,researcher ,scientist , knowledge-seeker , orknowledge worker . - noun A
social andcultural elite , especially in theNew England region of the USA. - noun A
learned person ofrefined taste andmild manners . - adjective
scholarly
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Subha says: 'They [certain brahmin teachers] are not able to read the thoughts of slave-girl Puṇṇikā.
Psalms of the Sisters Caroline Augusta Foley Rhys 1909
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The slightly later Nyaya (rigs-can-pa) school bases itself on The Logic Sutra (Skt. Nyaya Sutra) by Gautama – also known as the brahmin Akshapada (Bram-ze rKang-mig) – as commented on in the fourth century CE by Vatsyayana.
Basic Tenets of the Nyaya and Vaisheshika Schools of Indian Philosophy 2008
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Her name is that of a brahmin gens – the Vāseṭṭhas – yet she is not called a brahmin in her own legend.
Psalms of the Sisters Caroline Augusta Foley Rhys 1909
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Until a decade or so ago it was spelt brahmin, which is now given as an alternate spelling, and has survived in such expressions of common occurrence as Boston Brahmins.
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The govt. exams are geared to recruit officers with old fashioned "brahmin" mindset.
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The true meaning of a "brahmin" means one who is learned & it has nothing to do with caste or being a bahun.
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Local society has always had its share of such old (and young) fogeys with their bamunu matha ― namely, 'brahmin' or obscurantist patriarchal views as reflected in Sinhala and Tamil proverbs against women ('a woman's brain cannot think beyond the handle of a spoon ').
Kottu 2009
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In Hindu religion, cows are revered and it wouldn't surprise me if the ability of players to shoot up herds of "brahmin" in Fallout 3 factored into the cancellation.
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"He's only mouthing the dictates of the bishops (aka brahmin) who recently met to annouce their intention to" actively confront "pres-elect Obama.
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Perhaps a bit like the orthodox Vedic brahmin who wants his son to have nothing to do with meat-eaters. soullite Says:
Matthew Yglesias » Avigdor Lieberman Boosted By Pro-Pork Backlash 2009
john commented on the word brahmin
"The term was coined by physician and writer Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (father of the famous Supreme Court justice). Dr. Holmes used it both in a novel and in an 1860 Atlantic Monthly article called "The Brahmin Caste of New England" to describe the region's upper crust."
- Slate
December 30, 2007