Norwegian, a. and n.
(nɔːˈwiːdʒən)
Also 7–8 Norvegian.
[f. med.L. Norvegia, with assimilation to Norway1. Cf. F. Norvégien.]
A. adj. a. Of or pertaining to Norway; belonging to, found in, Norway.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 13 Of the Norvegian Monsters. 1622 Drayton Poly-olb. xix. 183 Of th' huge Norwegian hills. 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 33 A Hunnish and Norwegian statelines. 1667 ― P.L. i. 293 The tallest Pine Hewn on Norwegian hills. 1776 Dalrymple Annals Scotl. I. 44 note, He has no other authority than some Norvegian chronicles. 1781 Cowper Expost. 470 Rock'd by many a rough Norwegian blast. 1821 Scott Pirate xvi, Singing the achievements brave Of many an old Norwegian earl. 1874 R. Cowie Shetland (ed. 2) 21 Their dwellings were commodious erections of Norwegian timber. |
b. In special applications (see
quots. and
ns.).
Norwegian steam (see
quot. 1960).
| 1880–84 Day Fishes Gt. Britain I. 43 Norway haddock and *Norwegian carp. |
| 1792 Ker tr. Linnæus 241 Cuniculus norwegicus, or *Norwegian Coney. |
| 1883 Leisure H. 147/1 Tea..is ready all day long in teapots kept hot in covered baskets very thickly padded, such as are known with us as ‘*Norwegian Kitchens’. |
| 1792 Ker tr. Linnæus 241 Mus norwegicus, *Norwegian Mouse, or Lemming. |
| Ibid. 228 Mus norwegicus, or *Norwegian Rat. |
| 1944 Amer. Speech XIX. 106 *Norwegian steam is brute manpower,..from the tradition of the fine sailing ships. 1947 R. O. Boyer Dark Ship vii. 53, I heard another sailor say ‘We got there by Norwegian steam’ and asked him what he meant. ‘By rowing,’ he said. 1958 E. S. Land Winning War with Ships iv. 66 The power on deck for such work as weighing anchor was ‘Norwegian steam’. 1960 Wentworth & Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang 358/1 Norwegian steam, manpower; muscle power. A little jocular use, esp. maritime use. 1970 Sea Breezes Nov. 717/2 All the hoisting and hauling is done by hand—‘Norwegian steam’ as we used to say years ago. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1534/1 *Norwegian Stove..consists of a square wooden box lined with a soft, non-conducting substance. |
| 1899 Outing XXX. 229/1 The arrangement of the sliding-seat, the deck tiller, and the ‘*Norwegian’ tiller. The latter is a device adapted from the Norwegian fishing boats. |
| 1836 T. Thomson Min., Geol., etc. I. 200 *Norwegian Tremolite..in amorphous masses, having a white colour passing into bluish grey. |
B. n. 1. A native of Norway.
| 1605 Verstegan Dec. Intell. vi. 177 In the North parte of England the Norwegians or Normannes were ouerthrown. 1703 J. Brand Descr. Orkney 71 The Norse hath continued ever since the Norvegians had these Isles in Possession. 1757 Burke Abridgm. Eng. Hist. Wks. X. 286 Assisted by the Norwegians, and other people of Scandinavia. 1848 Lytton Harold i. ii, Swede, Norwegian, and Dane, had one common character viewed at a distance. 1884 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 590/1 The director of the Danish national theatre in 1771 was a Norwegian. |
2. The language of Norway.
| 1605 Verstegan Dec. Intell. vii. 195 The Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish do again differ from these, and some litle each from other. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XIV. 564/2 The Swedish is more nearly related to the Icelandic than either the Danish or Norwegian. 1841 Latham Eng. Lang. 13 In Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian the form is [etc.]. |
3. U.S. A kind of fishing-boat. (See
quots.)
| 1872–3 J. W. Milner in Rep. U.S. Fish Commission (1874) 9 At Milwaukee, for a time, the most of the boats were the sloop-rigged ‘Norwegians’, afterwards abandoned, and the square stern adopted. Ibid. 14 The ‘Norwegian’ is a huge, unwieldy thing, with flaring bows, great sheer, high sides, and is sloop-rigged... She is only used by the Scandinavian fishermen. |
So
† Norˈwegic a. Obs. rare—1.
| 1681 Grew Musæum iii. §i. v. 304 The Relation given at large by Wormius of the Norwegick Mouse. |