Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. Ind. army) a villain, a rascal; also attrib.

1849		W.H. Jeremie ‘The Kota Masool’ in Furlough Reminiscences 210: The prisoner Sirdar log, is a great rascal, a regular budmash.
1849		Chambers Edinburgh Jrnl 24 Nov. 327/1: The budmashes practise a trick that is not unknown in England, although known there [as] the modification of bills of Exchange.
1857		Further Papers Relative to the Mutinies in the East Indies II 8: The remark [...] must have been made by a ‘budmash,’ or man of bad character.
1862		Report of Police Administration in the N.-W. Provinces 54: In no other town under British rule in India, have I heard of wealthy natives keeping up budmash ' retainers to the extent that prevails in Mirzapore.
1869		Man about Town 9 Oct. 34/3: A flash, off-hand way among our youth more suitable to budmashes than gora log.
1879		Chambers Jrnl 29 Nov. 759/1: I was dressed as a budmash or an irregular soldier.
1887		Fortnightly 48 329: So you are the budmash ( rascal ) , are you , who has been giving me all this trouble — refusing to do your indigo field , and setting a bad example to the others?
1888		Kipling ‘The Three Musketeers’ in Plain Tales from the Hills 67: Says the driver, ‘Decoits ! Wot decoits? That’s Buldoo the budmash.’.
1891		Civil & Milit. Gaz. (Lahore) 7 Nov. 7/2: [of a horse] It is right to mention that Budmash’s owner was no party to the contemplated objection.
1893		Civil & Milit. Gaz. (Lahore) 14 Apr. 4/2: [H]e received Information that Boota Singh, a noted ‘budmash,’ was expending extravagantly the price of a murder.
1906		Civil & Milit. Gaz. (Lahore) 30 Oct. 2/4: On being examined spots of blood were found on the man's right hand and clothes, and he proved to be a notorious budmash.
1911		Civil & Milit. Gaz. (Lahore) 18 Jan. 9/2: [Mohurrum] is mainly a festival of the lower classes, and the budmash element play an undesirably prominent part in it.
1912		Civil & Milit. Gaz. (Lahore) 30 Aug. 11/1: [A] sub-inspector was brutally assaulted by a budmash and received so serious injuries that he succumbed in hospital.
1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 38: Budmash: (Hind.—badmash). A rascal. A thief.