Biedermeier

[ bee-der-mahy-er ]

adjective
  1. noting or pertaining to a style of furnishings common in German-speaking areas in the early to middle 19th century, generally existing as a simplification of the French Directoire and Empire styles, usually executed in fruitwood with much use of matched veneers, and often displaying architectural motifs.

Origin of Biedermeier

1
Named after Gottlieb Biedermeier, imaginary author of poems actually composed by various writers and published in German magazine Fliegende Blätter from 1855 on

Words Nearby Biedermeier

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for Biedermeier

Biedermeier

/ (ˈbiːdəˌmaɪə) /


adjective
  1. of or relating to a decorative and furnishing style in mid-19th-century Germany, characterized by solidity and conventionality

  2. boringly conventional in outlook; bourgeois

Origin of Biedermeier

1
C19: after Gottlieb Biedermeier, a fictitious character portrayed as a conventional unimaginative bourgeois and the author of poems actually written by several satirical poets

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012