Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A member of an ancient people, probably of Germanic or Celtic origin, who lived in Jutland until about 100 BC.
  • noun A member of any of the peoples speaking a Germanic language, especially a German.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Originally, a member of a Germanic tribe first mentioned in the fourth century B. c., and supposed to have dwelt near the mouth of the Elbe.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One of an ancient German tribe; later, a name applied to any member of the Germanic race in Europe; now used to designate a German, Dutchman, Scandinavian, etc., in distinction from a Celt or one of a Latin race.
  • noun A member of the Teutonic branch of the Indo-European, or Aryan, family.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A member of an early Germanic tribe noted in historical writings by Greek and Roman authors.
  • noun A German.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone (especially a German) who speaks a Germanic language
  • noun a member of the ancient Germanic people who migrated from Jutland to southern Gaul and were annihilated by the Romans

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin Teutōnī, Teutons; see teutā- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1720, from Latin Teutōnes, Teutōnī (name of a Germanic tribe that inhabited coastal Germany and devastated Gaul between 113-101 B.C., "the Teutons"), from Proto-Germanic *þeudanaz (“ruler, leader of the people”), from Proto-Germanic *þeudō (“people”), from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂ (“people”). Cognate with Gothic 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽𐍃 (þiudans, "king"), Old Norse þjóðann ("prince, king"), Old Saxon þiudan ("lord of the people, ruler"), Old English þēoden ("king, lord"), þēod ("nation, people, country, language"), Russian чужой ("stranger"), чудно ("strange"), чудо ("miracle"). Related to Dutch.

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Examples

  • It should be explained here that the word Teuton is used advisedly, for in reality it is to the Austrians before the Germans that the development of the 11-inch and bigger field gun, with its special carriage and caterpillar-tread wheels owes its existence.

    Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights Kelly Miller 1901

  • Le Bon (42) says that we must always remember that the Teuton is the irreconcilable enemy of the civilization of the French and of all it stands for, and that he must always be kept at a distance.

    The Psychology of Nations A Contribution to the Philosophy of History G.E. Partridge

  • Tall and fair, grey-eyed and sinewy, the Teuton was a hardier, more sturdy warrior than the Celt: he had not spent centuries of quiet settlement and imitative civilisation under the ægis of

    Hero-Myths & Legends of the British Race

  • The Teuton is the noblest race that has existed, and is the most progressive.

    History of the University of North Carolina. Volume II: From 1868 to 1912 Kemp Plummer 1912

  • One unpleasant aspect of the commercial invasion of Italy by the Teuton was his liking to live there, and consequently the amount of real estate which he was collecting on the Latin peninsula -- so much that the lovely environs of Naples were fast becoming a German principality!

    The World Decision Robert Herrick 1903

  • He was the representative of the Christian Roman defying the Teuton, on the ground of rights which he believed to have existed while the Teuton was a heathen in the German forests.

    Roman and the Teuton Charles Kingsley 1847

  • They were Romans, to whom the Teuton was a savage, speaking a different tongue, obeying different laws, his whole theory of the universe different from the Roman.

    Roman and the Teuton Charles Kingsley 1847

  • "Teuton" but as blowing from the eternal heights of music whose winds list nothing of frontiers.

    A Book of Old Ballads — Complete Beverley Nichols 1941

  • "Teuton" or the "Slav" he will give his last farthing and shed his heart's blood.

    The New World of Islam Lothrop Stoddard 1916

  • British reader can see its absurdity most easily when he reads the ravings of some patriotic German upon the superiority of the "Teuton" over the Italians and Greeks -- to whom we owe most things of importance in European civilisation.

    What is Coming? 1906

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