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Definition of pumpernickel - 4 dictionary results

pum⋅per⋅nick⋅el

[puhm-per-nik-uhl]
–noun
a coarse, dark, slightly sour bread made of unbolted rye.

Origin:
1750–60; < G Pumpernickel orig., an opprobrious name for anyone considered disagreeable, equiv. to pumper(n) to break wind + Nickel hypocoristic from of Nikolaus Nicholas (cf. nickel ); presumably applied to the bread from its effect on the digestive system
pum·per·nick·el   (pŭm'pər-nĭk'əl)   
n.  A dark, sourish bread made from whole, coarsely ground rye.

[German, probably from dialectal, term of abuse : obsolete Pumper, breaking wind (from dialectal pumpern, to break wind, from Middle High German, to knock, frequentative of pumpen, of imitative origin) + German Nickel, goblin; see nickel.]

Pumpernickel

Pump"er*nick`el\, n. [G.] A sort of bread, made of unbolted rye, which forms the chief food of the Westphalian peasants. It is acid but nourishing.

pumpernickel 
"dark rye bread," 1756, from Ger. (Westphalian dialect) Pumpernickel (1663), originally an abusive nickname for a stupid person, from pumpern "to break wind" + Nickel "goblin, lout, rascal," from proper name Niklaus. An earlier Ger. name for it was krankbrot, lit. "sick-bread."
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