junker

plural junkers · alternative Junker

1. A young German noble or squire, especially a member of the aristocratic party in Prussia, stereotyped with narrow-minded militaristic and authoritarian attitudes.

   The dice are, however, weighted against them, so long as the present generation of Junkers and officials survives.

   1921 October, Maxwell H. H. Macartney, “An Ex-Enemy in Berlin to-Day”, in The Atlantic

   1 more example

   Professors of philosophy and science carrying high the patriotic banner of Kultur and culture gloried in the system of compulsory, universal, military service, first made in Germany exulted in the degrading, vicious process of training by which the individual is hypnotized into submission to a brutal organization of military junkers, hallowed by the name of state and Fatherland, it was the darkest period in the history of mankind.

   1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress

plural junkers

1. CanadaUSderogatoryinformalA beat-up automobile.

   Synonyms: banger, beater, bucket of bolts, bucket of rust, clunker, crate, crock, flivver

2. A person with an interest in disused or discarded objects.

   An ardent junker herself, Mrs. Egge tells how to conduct a fascinating junk safari into the attic or antique and secondhand shops and what to do with the trophies you bring home.

   1968, Ruth Stearns Egge, How to Make Something from Nothing

3. slangSynonym of junkie (“drug addict”).

   Synonyms: junkie

plural Junkers

1. alternativeAlternative spelling of junker.