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Amish - 6 dictionary results

A⋅mish

[ah-mish, am-ish]
–adjective
1. of or pertaining to any of the strict Mennonite groups, chiefly in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Canada, descended from the followers of Jakob Ammann, a Swiss Mennonite bishop of the 17th century.
–noun
2. the Amish people.

Origin:
1835–45, Americanism; < G amisch, after Jakob Ammann; see -ish 1
A·mish   (ä'mĭsh, ām'ĭsh)   
n.   (used with a pl. verb)
An orthodox Anabaptist sect that separated from the Mennonites in the late 17th century and exists today primarily in Ohio and southeast Pennsylvania.
adj.  Of or relating to this sect or its members.

[German amisch, after Jacob Amman, 17th-century Swiss Mennonite bishop.]

Amish

Am"ish\, n. pl. [Written also Omish.] (Eccl. Hist.) The Amish Mennonites.

Amish

Am"ish\, a. [Written also Omish.] (Eccl. Hist.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, the followers of Jacob Amman, a strict Mennonite of the 17th century, who even proscribed the use of buttons and shaving as "worldly conformity". There are several branches of Amish Mennonites in the United States.

Amish [(ah-mish, am-ish, ay-mish)]

A group of Protestants who broke away from the Mennonites in the seventeenth century. The Amish live in close communities, farm for a living, and do without many modern conveniences, such as telephones, automobiles, and tractor-drawn plows.

Note: Some of the Pennsylvania Dutch are Amish.

Amish 
1844, Amer.Eng., from Jacob Amman, 17c. Swiss Mennonite preacher who founded the sect. Originally spelled Omish, which reflects the pronunciation in Pennsylvania German dialect.
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