American

plural Americans · alternative Am. · alternative Amer. · alternative Americanian · alternative Murican

1. countableuncountableA citizen or national of the United States of America.

   Roughly two-thirds of Americans default to the General American accent, with other dialects like Southern, AAVE, and Chicano usually being considered lower prestige outside of entertainment and politics.

   4 more examples

   Americans! your republican politics, not less than your republican religion, are flagrantly inconsistent. You boast of your love of liberty, your superior civilization, and your pure Christianity, while the whole political power of the nation... is solemnly pledged to support and perpetuate the enslavement of three millions of your countrymen.

   1852 July 5, Frederick Douglass, speech to the Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society, Rochester, New York

   ...the British ruling class obviously could not admit to themselves that their usefulness was at an end. Had they done that they would have had to abdicate. For it was not possible for them to turn themselves into mere bandits, like the American millionaires, consciously clinging to unjust privileges and beating down opposition by bribery and tear-gas bombs. After all, they belonged to a class with a certain tradition, they had been to public schools where the duty of dying for your country, if necessary, is laid down as the first and greatest of the Commandments.

   1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, Pt. I

   My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.

   1984 Aug. 11, Ronald Reagan, soundcheck for a weekly address

   Graham Norton: But the people coming up to you now, like the Americans, well, you know, the Americans, they're not shy, the Americans. Maggie Smith: No. Well, no but I don't go anywhere where really they can get at me. It's usually in museums and art galleries and things, so that limits things. I keep away from there, and Harrod's I don't go near.

   2015 October 30, The Graham Norton Show, season 18, episode 6

2. countableuncountableAny inhabitant of the Americas.
3. countablehistoricaluncountableA citizen or inhabitant of British America.
4. archaiccountableuncountableAn indigenous inhabitant of the Americas.First known use 16th c.

   The Americans believe that all creatures have souls.

   1711, Joseph Addison, The Spectator, page 56

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   Within a few months the ‘slave Alexandre’ had been successfully transformed into what, across the Channel, was called a ‘blackamoor dandy’. Parisians preferred the more politely euphemistic term ‘American’. ]

   2012, Jonathan Keates, “Mon Père, ce héros”, in Literary Review, section 402

5. countableobsoleteuncountable18th century to 19th centuryAn inhabitant of French or Spanish New World colonies.

   1839, Washington Irving, 'National Nomenclature', The Knickerbocker In France, when I have announced myself as an American, I have been supposed to belong to one of the French colonies; in Spain, to be from Mexico, or Peru, or some other Spanish-American country.

6. colloquialcountablehumorousinformaluncountableThe dialect of English spoken in and around the contiguous United States of America.

   Donate for Give. Good American, but not good English.

   1909, Ambrose Bierce, Write it Right

   5 more examples

   -A . Spanish ; my mother and father speak American ; my brothers and sisters speak Spanish ; when he is in the house , we speak American ; we have American prayers at night before we go to bed . Q. Is that usual in the families of the[…]

   1871, United States. Commission of Inquiry to Santo Domingo, Report, with the Introductory Message of the President, Special Reports Made to the Commission, State Papers Furnished by the Dominican Government, and the Statements of Over Seventy Witnesses, page 268

   “Do you speak American,” then asked the lady. “Oh, naow,” he replied with a still stronger emphasis. “But wouldn't you like to learn American?" persisted the lady. “Oh, naow, thanks," answered this sturdy little patriot. […]

   1896, The North American Review, volume 163, page 28

   The fact that they speak American and don ' t wear German uniforms makes them more dangerous than the Jerries themselves . What does your Springfield Plan do about them ? Here is a fighting challenge . In the light of this challenge the[…]

   1945, Clarence I. Chatto, Alice L. Halligan, The Story of the Springfield Plan

   We sat down in the central square and drank coffee and a man came up and spoke to us in American.

   1942, Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Canongate, published 2006, page 756

   "Where do you keep your cash, bub?" asked Idris hoarsely. His American was better than Hassan's English.

   1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 490

7. abbreviationclippinguncountableClipping of American cheese.

   Q: What kinds of cheese do you have? A: We have American, Swiss, cheddar, provolone, or wiz.

8. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountableEllipsis of American cockroach.
9. countableuncountablerail transportA steam locomotive of the 4-4-0 wheel arrangement.
10. USdatedrareuncountablemediaA size of type smaller than German, 1-point type.

comparative more American · superlative most American · alternative Am. · alternative Amer. · alternative Americanian · alternative Murican

1. Of, from, or pertaining to the United States of America, its people, or its culture.

   Thanksgiving is an American tradition.

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   He married an American woman in order to get an American passport.

   Should you ever be athirst in the great American desert, try this experiment, if your caravan happen to be supplied with a metaphysical professor.

   1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 1, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC

   Each new wave of immigration helped meet the needs of American development and made its distinctive contribution to the American character.

   1964, John F. Kennedy, “Waves of Immigration-the Post-Revolutionary Forces”, in A Nation of Immigrants, Revised and Enlarged edition, Harper & Row, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 17

   ...they cannot see through their current biases to realize that a police vehicle with the American flag is the ultimate American expression...

   2019 April 14, Jennifer Welsh Zeiter, “Putting American Flags on Police Cars Sparks Backlash in Laguna Beach”, in Los Angeles Times

   There's also prepackaged frozen meat you take home to cook — eight American Akaushi wagyu cuts range from rib finger to tomahawk. Akaushi, also red wagyu, is a leaner variety. The American Akaushi here comes from the largest herd of Akaushi cattle in the U.S.

   2026, Benjamin Epstein, The Irvine Standard, Welcome to a world of wagyu at these restaurants, page 17

   Synonyms: Yank, USian, USAian, Usanian, Usonian, United Statian, US American, United Statesian

2. uncommonOf, from, or pertaining to the Americas.

   This is pure American powder from the foothills of Colombia.

   Synonyms: Western Hemispherian

3. historicalOf, from, or pertaining to British North America.
4. archaicOf, from, or pertaining to the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas.
5. not comparablebusinessAble to be exercised on any date between its issue and expiry; contrasted with European.

   All of these trade on the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Most of the contracts are European. An exception is the OEX contract on the S&P 100, which is American.

   2009, John C. Hull, Options, Futures, and other Derivatives (Seventh Edition), Pearson Education, page 182

   2 more examples

   Multi-dimensional option pricing becomes an important topic in financial markets (Franker et al., 2008). Among which, the American-type derivative (e.g. the Bermudan option) pricing is a challenging problem.

   2009, Shih-Feng Huang, Meihui Guo, Applied Quantitative Finance (Second Edition), Springer, page 295

   Based on the analyses throughout the case study, it is recommended that the use of a model that assumes an ESO is European style when, in fact, the option is American style with the other exotic variables should not be permitted, as this substantially overstates compensation expenses.

   2010, Johnathan Mun, Modeling Risk + DVD: Applying Monte Carlo Risk Simulation, Strategic Real Options, Stochastic Forecasting, and Portfolio Optimization (Second Edition), John Wiley & Sons

alternative Am. · alternative Amer. · alternative Americanian · alternative Murican

1. A township in Allen County, Ohio, United States.