wallah

(redirected from wallahs)
Also found in: Thesaurus, Idioms.

wal·lah

also wal·la (wä′lä, wŏl′ə)
n.
1. One employed in a particular occupation or activity: a kitchen wallah; rickshaw wallahs.
2. An important person in a particular field or organization: "the Ritz, a favorite haunt of Republican wallahs" (John Robinson).
[From Hindi -vālā, n. suff. indicating the person concerned with an item or engaged in an activity, from Prakrit pāla-, keeper, from Sanskrit pālaḥ, protector, herdsman, from pālayati, he brings across safely (as for example animals at a ford), protects variant of pārayati; see per- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

wallah

(ˈwɒlə) or

walla

n
(usually in combination) informal a person involved with or in charge of (a specified thing): the book wallah.
[C18: from Hindi -wālā from Sanskrit pāla protector]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

wal•lah

or wal•la

(ˈwɑ lɑ, -lə)

n., pl. -lahs or -las.
a person employed at or concerned with a particular thing, specified by the preceding word: a ticket wallah.
[1770–80; < Hindi -wālā]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun 1. wallah - usually in combination: person in charge of or employed at a particular thing; "a kitchen wallah"; "the book wallah"
Bharat, India, Republic of India - a republic in the Asian subcontinent in southern Asia; second most populous country in the world; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1947
worker - a person who works at a specific occupation; "he is a good worker"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

wallah

[ˈwɒlə] N → hombre m (pej) → tío m, sujeto m
the ice-cream wallah → el hombre de los helados
the wallah with the beard → él de la barba
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

wallah

n (dated sl) → Typ m (inf)
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
References in classic literature ?
They were tall, fierce-looking chaps, Mahomet Singh and Abdullah Khan by name, both old fighting-men who had borne arms against us at Chilian- wallah. They could talk English pretty well, but I could get little out of them.
View in context
Indeed, considering the ease with which NAB cases against the Sharif family are crumbling, we are all (not just the PTI wallahs) wondering at what is happening.
Making a big deal of the 'deal'
WAPDA wallahs themselves do corruption by giving secret connections to their family members and to others and take kickbacks every month.
Electricity robbery
On-governance organisations By any measure, the NGO wallahs in the capital city and other urban centres could do much for the general people and virtually forgotten orphans in the rural areas.
SPICE OF LIFE
Other feted visitors included the kulfi wallahs (milk ice cream), mong phalli or roasted peanut wallah, fruit sellers and utensil sellers (who would also give away glasses and tea sets in exchange for used clothes).
Gulli danda, hockey sticks and taking the 5A bus in 1970s Karachi
How distorted his real life story will become after the film and TV wallahs are through with him is anybody's guess.
Now Mir
IN VICTORIA SQUARE The Indian Rasoi Inspired by the Chaat Wallahs of Delhi and Bombay, these snacks are all based on fried dough, with added chickpeas, spices, chilli sauce, peppers, onions, coriander slaw and yoghurt.
Food with street cred
IN VICTORIA SQUARE The Indian Rasoi (above) Inspired by the Chaat Wallahs of Delhi and Bombay, these snacks are all based on fried dough, with added chickpeas, spices, chilli sauce, peppers, onions, coriander slaw and yoghurt.
Great street eats
and joins the rickshaw wallahs navigating the crowded city streets and narrow lanes.
best travel
Ch Parvez Elahi said that the rulers had adopted all tactics to fail Inqilab and Azadi March, reports have come according to which straight bullets were fired upon people also in Islamabad like Model Town tragedy, police had forcibly lifted injured workers from the hospitals, number of martyred persons was being hidden, N-League wallahs use wrong language and then also come for negotiations.
Rulers should stop playing double game: Ch Shujat, Parvez Elahi
Soldiers' vocabulary as set out in the Soldier's Diary of 1917 Gravel Crushers: Infantry soldiers Poultice Wallahs: RAMC officers Doolally Tap: When a soldier becomes mentally unbalanced, he is said to have received the "Doolally Tap".
The call went out across the world; Liverpudlians around the globe return to fight for their homeland, writes CATHERINE JONES
It creates confusions among the policy circles when we have "supply wallahs" (Jeffrey Sachs) and "demand wallahs" (William Easterly).
Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. Poor Economics: Rethinking Poverty and the Ways to End it

Full browser ?