Amish

[ ah-mish, am-ish ]

adjective
  1. of or relating to any of the strict Mennonite groups, chiefly in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Canada, descended from the followers of Jakob Ammann, a Swiss Mennonite bishop of the 17th century.

noun
  1. the Amish people.

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Origin of Amish

1
1835–45, Americanism;<German amisch, after Jakob Ammann; see -ish1

Words Nearby Amish

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British Dictionary definitions for Amish

Amish

/ (ˈɑːmɪʃ, ˈæ-) /


adjective
  1. of or relating to a US and Canadian Mennonite sect that traces its origin to Jakob Amman

noun
  1. the Amish the Amish people

Origin of Amish

1
C19: from German Amisch, after Jakob Amman, 17th-century Swiss Mennonite bishop

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

Cultural definitions for Amish

Amish

[ (ah-mish, am-ish, ay-mish) ]


A group of Protestants who broke away from the Mennonites in the seventeenth century. The Amish live in close communities, farm for a living, and do without many modern conveniences, such as telephones, automobiles, and tractor-drawn plows.

Notes for Amish

Some of the Pennsylvania Dutch are Amish.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.