Meanings
plural German goiters
- humorousidiomaticoffensivepossiblyUS MidwestA protruding stomach, especially one supposed to be indicative of excessive consumption of beer.
Any man who likes playing Santa Claus is in much better shape come Christmas if he has a German goiter.
1956 October 8, “Advantages of Being Fat”, in Milwaukee Journal, retrieved 03 Jan 2010, page 221 more example
Brothers Gribble, Berger, Wolf, Shadwill and the writer are still nursing their “beer muscles.” I mean German goitres.
1939, American Flint, volume 28, page 41Synonyms: beer baby, beer belly, beer gut, beer muscles, Molson muscle
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA protruding stomach, especially one supposed to be indicative of excessive consumption of beer.
Origin
From German + goiter, from the stereotype that Germans drink a lot of beer, and from the similarity of a protruding stomach to a protruding goiter.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
German goiter. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/German%20goiter
“German goiter.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/German%20goiter. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “German goiter,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/German%20goiter.
Source: German goiter on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.