Definitions

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

  • noun A Hindu priestly caste; one of the four varnas or social groups based on occupation in ancient Hindu society.
  • noun One who has realized or attempts to realize Brahman, i.e. God or supreme knowledge.
  • noun A scholar, teacher, priest, intellectual, researcher, scientist, knowledge-seeker, or knowledge worker.
  • noun A social and cultural elite, especially in the New England region of the USA.
  • noun A learned person of refined taste and mild manners.
  • adjective scholarly

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Anglicised from Sanskrit ब्राह्मण (brā́hmaṇa).

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Examples

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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.

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol XI No 4 1989

  • The govt. exams are geared to recruit officers with old fashioned "brahmin" mindset.

    United We Blog! for a Democratic Nepal 2009

  • The true meaning of a "brahmin" means one who is learned & it has nothing to do with caste or being a bahun.

    United We Blog! for a Democratic Nepal 2009

  • 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

  • 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.

    Yahoo! Buzz US: Top Stories 2008

  • "He's only mouthing the dictates of the bishops (aka brahmin) who recently met to annouce their intention to" actively confront "pres-elect Obama.

    Top Stories - Google News 2008

  • 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

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  • "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