german

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An intricate dance for many couples.
2. n. A party for dancing at which this dance is featured.
3. adj. Having the same parents or the same grandparents on either the mother's or the father's side. Often used in combination: a cousin-german; a brother-german.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Sprung from the same father and mother or from brothers or sisters: always placed after its noun.
2. Nearly related; closely akin.
3. Closely connected; germane.
4. n. One sprung from the same stock; specifically, a full brother, sister, or cousin.
5. Of or pertaining to an important Teutonic race inhabiting central Europe, or to Germany, or to its inhabitants or their language. At the beginning of the Christian era the Germans occupied central Europe eastward to the Vistula, southward to the Carpathians and Danube, and westward to beyond the Rhine. Among their chief tribes were the Suevi, Lombards, Vandals, Heruli, Chatti, Quadi, Ubii, and Cherusci. After the epoch of migrations in the third and fourth centuries, many tribes, as the Franks, Burgundians, Lombards, and Vandals, settled permanently in other regions, and became merged in the new French, Italian, and Spanish nations. In the East the Germans were displaced by Slavs, although important parts of this region have since been Germanized. Since about the twelfth century the Germans have called themselves die Deutschen. In medieval and modern times they have occupied a region which has had many political changes, but which has remained of substantially the same extent for centuries. The former Roman-German empire contained various lands not inhabited by Germans. At the present time the Germans form the great majority in the reconstituted German empire; they number over one fourth of the inhabitants of Austria-Hungary, chiefly in the western and northwestern parts; there are about 1,000,000 Germans in the Baltic provinces and elsewhere in Russia, and over two thirds of the Swiss are of German race and language. Abbreviated Ger. or G.
6. n. A member of the German race, or a native or an inhabitant of Germany. See I.
7. n. The language of Germany or of the German people, a sub-branch or division of the Teutonic or Germanic branch of Indo-European or Aryan language. Its two principal divisions are the Low German, of the northern or lower part of the country, and the High German, of the southern or higher part. See High German, Low German, below.
8. n. Especially, the literary language of Germany. It is one of the High-German dialects, the former court and official dialect of Saxony (though not entirely free from elements of other dialects), and was brought into general learned and literary use, early in the sixteenth century, by Luther's writings, especially by his translation of the Bible.
9. n. [lowercase] In dancing: An elaborate form of cotillion, in which round dances predominate and the figures vary according to the invention of the leader, and in which the changing of partners and giving of favors form a special feature.
10. n. An entertainment at which the german exclusively is danced.
11. n. [lowercase] In coal-mining, a straw filled with gunpowder, used as a fuse in blasting.

Wiktionary

1. adj. Having the same mother and father; a full (brother or sister).
2. adj. Being born to one’s blood aunt or uncle, a first (cousin).
3. adj. obsolete Closely related, akin.
4. n. obsolete A near relative.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. adj. Nearly related; closely akin.
2. n. A native or one of the people of Germany.
3. n. The German language.
4. n. A round dance, often with a waltz movement, abounding in capriciosly involved figures.
5. n. A social party at which the german is danced.
6. adj. Of or pertaining to Germany.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the standard German language; developed historically from West Germanic
2. adj. of or pertaining to or characteristic of Germany or its people or language
3. n. a person of German nationality