Dutchman
(ˈdʌtʃmən)
[f. Dutch a. + man.]
1. † a. A German; a man of Teutonic race. Obs. exc. locally in U.S.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 253 Þe woodnesse of Duchesmen [furorem Teutonicorum]. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) iv. xxx. 80 Be it duysshe man or lumbard or ony other nacion. 1538 Wriothesley Chron. (1875) I. 90, 3 men and 1 woman, all Duchemen borne. 1570 Levins Manip. 21/2 Dutchman, Teutonicus. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iii. ii. 33 To bee a Dutchman to day, a Frenchman to morrow. 1617 Minsheu Ductor, A Duchman or German. Vi[de] German. 1788 M. Cutler in Life, Jrnls. & Corr. (1888) I. 404 This is a good house, kept by a Dutchman [in Pennsylvania]. 1871 E. Eggleston Hoosier Schoolm. (1872) vii. 74 The robbery at ‘the Dutchman's’ (as the only German in the whole region was called). 1931 ‘D. Stiff’ Milk & Honey Route iii. 38 Germans of all kinds are ‘Dutchmen’, ‘square-heads’ or ‘Heines’. |
b. A European; a foreigner (see quots.). colloq.
| 1857 J. D. Borthwick 3 Yrs. in California 311 Europeans..save French, English, and ‘Eyetalians’ are in California classed under the general denomination of Dutchmen, or more frequently ‘d—d Dutchmen’, merely for the sake of euphony. 1892 Stevenson & Osbourne Wrecker xii. 194 In sea-lingo (Pacific) Dutchman includes all Teutons and folk from the basin of the Baltic. 1907 Daily Chron. 21 Dec. 6/6 ‘Only fifty years ago,’ he remarked, ‘we gave the generic name of Dutchman to all the representatives of Western civilisation in the Far East.’ 1910 G. C. Eggleston Recoll. 3 To us in the West, at least, all foreigners whose mother tongue was other than English were ‘Dutchmen’. 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words, Dutchman, the British seafarers’ name for sailormen in general, natives of Northern Europe: Dutchmen proper, Danes, Swedes, Russians, Germans. Finns are excepted. 1928 Daily Express 20 July 2/7 British sailors refer to foreigners employed on vessels as ‘Dutchmen’. |
2. a. An inhabitant of Holland or the Netherlands.
| 1596 Edward III, iii. i. 25 In Netherland, Among those euer-bibbing Epicures, Those frothy Dutch men, puft with double-beer. 1617 Minsheu Ductor, A Duchman, or one of the Low Countries. 1700 S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 66 A Gill of Brandy (the best thing in the World to inspire Courage into a Dutch-man). 1873 F. C. Burnand My Time i, Uncle Van Clym was a Dutchman. Mod. Is he a German or a Dutchman? |
b. Phr. I'm a Dutchman, i.e. some one that I am not at all: as the alternative clause to an assertion or questioned hypothesis. colloq.
| 1837 Thackeray Ravenswing iii, If there's a better-dressed man in Europe..I'm a Dutchman. 1856 Reade Never too late lii, If there is as much gold on the ground of New South Wales as will make me a wedding-ring, I am a Dutchman. Mod. It is my brother, or I'm a Dutchman. |
3. A Dutch ship.
Flying Dutchman: a. A legendary spectral ship supposed to be seen in the region of the Cape of Good Hope; also, the captain of this ship, said to have been condemned to sail the seas for ever. b. Applied to a particular express train on the Great Western Railway running between London and Bristol.
| 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 19 There was a Dutch man that lay there but three dayes, and in that little stay lost two Anchors. 1676 Dryden Aurengz. Ded., They..give it no more Quarter, than a Dutch-Man would to an English Vessel in the Indies. 1813 Scott Rokeby ii. xi. note, A fantastic vessel, called by sailors the Flying Dutchman. 1839 Marryat Phant. Ship ix, I fear no Flying Dutchman. 1870 Bradwood The O.V.H. 25 The Flying Dutchman from Paddington. |
4. In technical applications (see quots.). Chiefly U.S.
| 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. 134 Dutchman, a flaw in a stone or marble slab, filled up by an insertion. 1874 Knight Dict. Mech., Dutchman (Carpentry), a playful name for a block or wedge of wood driven into a gap to hide the fault in a badly made joint. 1905 Terms Forestry & Logging 36 Dutchman, a short stick placed transversely between the outer logs of a load to divert the load toward the middle and so keep any logs from falling off. 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl., Dutchman, a layer of suet fastened with skewers into a roast of lean beef or mutton. 1957 Brit. Commonwealth Forest Terminol. 64 Dutchman, a prop used in logging for such purposes as preventing the binding of a saw when crosscutting, or for supporting the coupling of an arch while it is being hooked to a tractor. 1960 New Yorker 3 Sept. 20/3 He mended the [marble] lion by cutting recesses several inches deep wherever the stone was damaged, and fitting new pieces of stone therein. These pieces are known in the trade as dutchmen. |
5. Comb., as Dutchman's breeches, (a) a name in U.S. of the plant Dicentra Cucullaria; (b) Naut. (see quot. 1867); Dutchman's laudanum, a climbing shrub allied to the passion-flower, Passiflora Murucuja (Murucuja ocellata); also, a narcotic prepared from this; Dutchman's pipe, (a) ‘an American name for Aristolochia Sipho’ (Treas. Bot. 1866); (b) the nest of the South American wasp.
| 1756 P. Browne Jamaica 328 The Bull-hoof or Dutchman's Laudanum..a climber, whose fruit is..about the size of a large olive. 1857 Dunglison Med. Lexicon 315 Dutchman's Pipe, Aristolochia Hirsuta. 1865 Wood Homes without H. xxiii. (1868) 421 The South American wasp, which makes the nest popularly called the ‘Dutchman's pipe’. 1866 Treas. Bot. 400/1 Dicentra Cucullaria, is known in the United States as Dutchman's Breeches, from the shape of the spurred flower. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Dutchman's breeches, the patch of blue sky often seen when a gale is breaking, is said to be, however small, ‘enough to make a pair of breeches for a Dutchman’. |
Hence Dutchman-like, a.
| 1612 W. Sclater Christians Strength 5 That same vnmeasurable and Dutchmanlike drinking. |