nabobs

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nabobs, a corruption of the Urdu nawab, a governor or nobleman, was the fashionable term for men who had returned from India with ample fortunes, and often a taste for lavish living and political advancement. They were satirized by Samuel Foote in a highly successful play, The Nabob, put on at the Haymarket in 1772. Well-known nabobs included Clive, Sir Robert Fletcher, General Richard Smith, Sir Francis Sykes, and Paul Benfield.

J. A. Cannon