Green’s Dictionary of Slang

‘refreshment taken in the early morning, before or after the morning exercise’ (Y&B).

[1832		Herklots Qanoon-e-Islam 76: The Sheeahs prepare hazree (breakfast) in the name of his holiness Abbas Allee Ullum-burdar, Hosein's step-brother].
1858		in J. Aberigh-Mackay From London to Lucknow II (1860) 397: Accordingly, I rose early, saw my things packed, and had some chota hazri.
1861		Hills & Plains I 18: ‘I must put a stop to my chota hazree in future’.
1880		V. Ball Jungle Life in India 553: Here we were hospitably entertained with chota haziri, and were thus enabled to continue our journey.
1889		Kipling ‘A Menagerie Aboard’ in Civil & Military Gaz. 30 Mar. (1909) 20: Every one knows pyjama time — the long hour that follows the removal of the beds from the saloon skylight and the consumption ochota hazri.
1892		Civil & Milit. Gaz. (Lahore) 6 Aug. 2/1: ‘Six clock, Sar, tea ready.’ I [...] found my boy Chinnaswamy with chota haziri.
1893		‘Raoul’ Pig-sticking in Bengal 8: By five o'clock every one was up and dressed, so a move was soon made after chota hazree.
1898		E.S. Mott Mingled Yarn 123: [T]hen chota hazree at mess: unda bakum [i.e. eggs and bacon], buttered toast, and coffee, the meal varied by the ‘Queen’s peg’ [i.e. gin and champagne] for the warrior who might be troubled with ‘acidity’.
1906		D. Dewar Bombay Ducks 77: I was awakened in the morning - my first in Madras - to find that the crows had eaten up my chota haziri, and that the sparrows were fighting over the crumbs left by the crows.
1912		P.C. Wren Dew & Mildew 76: ‘I [...] offered it my packet of Turkidge Daylight that Ayah would not let me eat for chota hazri’.
1913		Mrs T.S. MacPherson ‘Life of a Memsahib in the Mufassal’ in Calcutta Rev. Jan. 56: In the hot weather the day begins before 5 a.m. Except in the damp districts of Bengal the courts sit at 6 a.m., which means an early chota hazri.
1920		E.P. Stebbing Diary Sportsman Naturalist in India 114: I woke then to find my servant at my bedside with a tray full of a large chota hazri .
1933		Southern Cross (Adelaide) 5 May 19/2: [orig. Indian text] It did not take long to slip into her habit, and she finished her ‘Chotah Hazri’ whilst so doing.
1936		I. Burn ‘Tea for Two’ in Civil & Milit. Gaz. Annual 23: ‘Twelve hours to spend on a bare platform and it's Christmas Day, and my sister expects me before tiffin and I didn't even get any chota hazri this morning’.
1948		J. Corbett Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag 60: I was up while it was still dark and was having chota hazri, when I heard voices on the road.

a small drink of whisky; a shot of whisky.

1900		D.B.B. Little Hill Station 84: ‘Well, I do think women are an infernal nuisance at a cricket match. Just look at that girl's hat. Of all the &c. &c. Boy, chota peg’.
1912		P.C. Wren Dew & Mildew 136: The Colonel looked at his watch and said, ‘Sun’s below the yard-arm. Yeth, I’ll have a thmall Thcotch-and-usual, General.’ Then you called, ‘Boy! Do chota peg lao!
1917		Western Mail (Perth) 9 Feb. 48/1: [orig. Indian text] I learned later that he visited the bar and ordered a ‘burra peg’ (large whisky), which was followed by a ‘chota peg’ (small whisky), and he topped the combination off with some pinkish concoction which would clog the pores of a pig’s liver.
1925		B.C. Ellison Prince of Wales’s Sport in India 202: Then the ever welcome ‘chota peg,’ and the sportsmen began to roll in.
1938		D. Kincaid British Social Life in India 256: he ladies sat about on the lawn looking cool in their flowered muslin and gentlemen gathered near the buffet for a chota peg .
1953		I. Hamilton Till Human Voices Wake Us 127: Slinging off over their chota pegs at the breechless.
1954		C. Mackenzie Ben Nevis Goes East 25: ‘Look here, we must have a chota peg to drink bon voyage’.

a junior or minor official; a subaltern; a low-ranking officer; also applied to male children by their servants.

[1781		Hicky’s Bengal Gaz. 23-30 June n.p.: Chutah Pigdanny [...] Hovers about her like an unfledged Cupid oror ‘Fribble in Miss in her Teens’].
1816		‘Quiz’ Grand Master 222: The Chota Sahib could dread no danger / From a pacific simple stranger.
1829		R. Heber Narrative Journey Upper Provinces of India I 315: She at first took the money with eagerness, then [...] bowed herself to my feet and kissed my hands, and at last said, in a very modest tone, ‘it was not fit for so great a man as I was, to give her two anas, and she hoped that I and the ‘chota Sahib’ (little lord) would give her a rupee each!’.
1830		in J. Douglas Book Bombay (1883) 564: Society consisted chiefly of foolish burra sahibs (great folks) who gave dinners, and chota sahibs who ate them.
1857		Sporting Mag. Jan. 433: ‘The camp of the Chota Sahib*, favoured of the Lord,’ replied he, in his beatific jargon [note *‘The Little Lord’ — the common designation of a junior magnate among the natives].
1866		G.O. Trevelyan Dawk Bungalow 223: Will you come with me, my Chota Sahib, / To you out-station far, / Where the dawks appear the longest, And the roads all cutcha are?
1867		Once a Week 28 Dec. 753/1: ‘Shedallah, you remember telling us of the poor little child that you buried under the tree?’ ‘Yes, Mem Sahib, Shedallah remembers Chota Sahib very well’.
1877		R.A. Sterndale Seonee 75: ‘Your slave has a petition. If the chota sahib will try an old shikaree’s way of killing tigers, let him come with me this afternoon, and follow the herds.’.
1893		Kipling ‘The Bridge-builders’ in Day’s Work (1898) [ebook] ‘Mother Gunga eats great allowances [...] I tell this to the Chota Sahib [...] and he laughs’.
1902		Temple Bar 126 81: The Chota Sahib came indoors [...] and falling on a cane sofa was sound asleep.
1910		J. Travers Sahib-log 148: [T]he Chota Sahib, a stripling without knowledge.
1912		P.C. Wren Dew & Mildew 180: [H]is fat and panting old ayah — the deep desire of whose soul was to see the Chota Sahib asleep on his bed that she might get away to her tiffin.
1912		P.C. Wren Dew & Mildew 9: [T]he little rooms over the bazaar shops will be tenanted solely by chota-sahibs and junior English gazetted officials.
1927		A.C. Brown Ordinary Man's India 40: He was always referred to by the Indians as the ‘chota sahib,’ while I was referred to as the ‘burra sahib’ — the joke of it all being that my friend was a very small man.
1934		Indian Rev. 35 20: A venerable priest [...] implored Saunders to prevent the chota sahib, as he put it, ‘from despoiling the manifestation of Shiva’.
1941		F. Prokosch Asiatics 221: There was the Assistant Resident, the Chota Sahib, like the Resident an Englishman from Oxford.
1976		P. Scott Raj Quartet 75: Bhalu used to refer to Nello as the Chota Sahib. Indians were always called that by servants who’d worked for your people, to distinguish them from the British burra Sahibs.
2012		M. Sturt Education of Children Under Seven 3: A great stage is passed when baby, placed on his back, can roll over; and many are the bets taken among Indian servants as to the day on which Chota Sahib will perform the feat.
2014		D. Tarte Fiji: A Place Called Home 43: I was Turaga Lailai or Chota Sahib and was always given absolute respect and obedience, and seldom found it necessary to exert my authority.

(Anglo-Ind.) a small person, animal, or thing.

1863		Jrnl Horticulture (London) 14 July 32/2: These [small chickens] are called ‘chotah wallahs’ (little fellows), and are used for curry. Though called ‘chotah,’ they never become larger, and they lay eggs no bigger than a pigeon’s.
1880		A.G. Shiell Year in India 48: From these chota-wallahs through all the intermediate grades [...] is this lovely characteristic of Anglo-Indian official human benevolence exemplified.
1893		S.J. Duncan Simple Adventures Memsahib 229: ‘Oh, you can plum-pudding, do - a chota wallah, and cabadar bote plenty kismiss’.
1897		Sportsman (Melbourne) 26 Jan. 5/4: He has previously looked over your horses [...] he wants a chota wallah - ‘a small fellow’ - and is only prepared to pay a small price.
1900		F. Donaldson Lepcha Land 173: [of a horse] The ‘chota wallah’ was so small that a big stone was quite enough to mount from [...] He was the most willing little animal I ever had.