The AI-powered English dictionary
plural babushkas or babushki
An old woman, especially one of Eastern European descent. quotations
Yet, much as I loved to listen to it, standing there in the heat of all the lighted candles and dressed in my heavy shuba and felt boots, I invariably, halfway through the service, would begin to feel an intolerable pain across my shoulders which would spread across my back, gradually getting worse, until in the end I was forced to go to the back of the church and find a corner on a bench especially placed there for all the old babushkas and dedushkas who were also unable to bear the strain of standing throughout the whole service.
1984, Eugenie Fraser, “Before the Storm”, in The House by the Dvina: A Russian Childhood, Mainstream Publishing, pages 126–127
(by association) A stereotypical, Eastern European peasant grandmother-type figure. examples
A Russian grandmother. quotations examples
[…] the old woman wore the same kind of attire as his babushka and the mother of his house did […]
1899, Lyof N. Tolstoï, “The Dekabrists: A Romance”, in [unknown], transl., Master and Man; The Kreutzer Sonata; Dramas (The Novels and Other Works of Lyof N. Tolstoï), New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, page 231
There they were, the devoted babushkas and dedushkas, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers of Bobby’s companions, lugging their bags, their bulging packages and bundles.
1980, Mike Davidow, Moscow Diary, Moscow: Progress Publishers, page 147
“He and my babushka took an angry and confused teenager and taught her how to build herself up into a strong woman.”
2020, Nalini Singh, Alpha Night (Psy-Changeling Trinity), Berkley, page 205
(Eastern Europe, derogatory, slang) An old woman of Russian or Belarusian descent with unwelcome conservative and/or Orthodox Christian views.
(Northern US) A traditional floral headscarf worn by an Eastern European woman, tied under the chin. quotations examples
“Say hello to old Stanley,” he called as she pattered down the steps into the street, flung a babushka over her license plate and screeched away down Telegraph.
1966, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 5, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York: Bantam Books, published 1976, page 79
The crowd falls silent, momentarily stunned, while a heavyset woman in a babushka pushes her way through, broadcasting the news […].
1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 78
A Russian doll, a matryoshka. examples