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hamburger

 [ham-bur-ger]   Origin

ham·burg·er

   [ham-bur-ger]
noun
1.
a sandwich consisting of a cooked patty of ground or chopped beef, usually in a roll or bun, variously garnished.
2.
ground or chopped beef.
3.
Also called Hamburg steak. a patty of ground or chopped beef, seasoned and fried or broiled.
Also, ham·burg  [ham-burg] .
Also called beefburger.

Origin:
1885–90; short for Hamburger steak; see -er1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Hamburger is always a great word to know.
So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
hamburger or hamburg (ˈhæmˌbɜːɡə)
 
—n
Hamburger steak, Also called: beefburger a flat fried cake of minced beef, often served in a bread roll
 
[C20: shortened from Hamburger steak (that is, steak in the fashion of Hamburg)]
 
hamburg or hamburg
 
—n
 
[C20: shortened from Hamburger steak (that is, steak in the fashion of Hamburg)]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

hamburger
1889, hamburg steak, from the Ger. city of Hamburg, though no certain connection has ever been put forth, and there may not be one beyond that of Hamburg being a major port of departure for Ger. immigrants to U.S. Shortened form burger attested from 1939; beefburger was attempted 1940, in an attempt
EXPAND
to make the main ingredient more explicit, after the -burger had taken on a life of its own as a suffix (cf. cheeseburger, first attested 1938).
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

hamburger definition


  1. n.
    a stupid and worthless person—meat. : The guy is just hamburger. You can't teach him anything.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia

hamburger

ground beef. The term is applied variously to (1) a patty of ground beef, sometimes called hamburg steak, Salisbury steak, or Vienna steak, (2) a sandwich consisting of a patty of beef served within a split bread roll, with various garnishes, or (3) the ground beef itself, which is used as a base in many sauces, casseroles, terrines, and the like. The origin of hamburger is unknown, but the hamburger patty and sandwich were probably brought by 19th-century German immigrants to the United States, where in a matter of decades the hamburger came to be considered an archetypal American food. The importance of the hamburger in American popular culture is indicated by its virtual ubiquity at backyard barbecues and on fast-food restaurant menus and by the proliferation of so-called hamburger stands and restaurants. Some chains, such as McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's, proliferated worldwide.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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