dabbawalla en · NOUN
Etymology
Borrowed from Marathi डबेवाला (ḍabevālā), Hindi डब्बावाला (ḍabbāvālā), literally "person with a box".
Meanings
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(India) A deliveryperson in Mumbai, India who collects freshly cooked food in lunchboxes from workers' residences (mostly in the suburbs), delivers it to their respective workplaces, and returns the empty containers.
“There is a service called FedEx that is similar to ours — but they don’t deliver lunch,” said one dabbawalla, Dhondu Kondaji Chowdhury.
2007 May 29, Saritha Rai, “In India, Grandma Cooks, They Deliver”, in New York Times:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| dabbawala | alternative | lexicographic | |
| dabbawallas | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| dabbawallah | alternative | lexicographic |