Amish
[ah-mish, am-ish]
- 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.
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- the Amish people.
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Origin of Amish
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for amish
Contemporary Examples
Your movies have tackled subjects like Amish bowling, the Special Olympics, and conjoined twins—but never midlife crisis before.
Last summer, Palin joined members of Jews for Sarah in Pennsylvania Amish country for a traditional Sabbath celebration.
[The Amish] are completely cut off from the outside world.
John McCain may have one last, best hope for winning the White House: the Amish.
Historical Examples
Self-sufficiency, reflecting contexts of existence of limited scale, marks the Amish and Mennonite families.
The Civilization of IlliteracyMihai Nadin
The skill that makes Aaron worth his fare out here, though, is an Amish skill, and the rarest one of all.
Blind Man's LanternAllen Kim Lang
Five years from spring, other Amish folk would come to homestead—what a barn-raising they'd have!
Blind Man's LanternAllen Kim Lang
Though American enough, maize had been a foreigner to the first Amish farmers, and still carried history in its name.
Blind Man's LanternAllen Kim Lang
Some time after attending this meeting I called upon an aged Amish man to converse with him upon their religious society, etc.
Amish
- of or relating to a US and Canadian Mennonite sect that traces its origin to Jakob Amman
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- the Amish the Amish people
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Word Origin
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
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Word Origin and History for amish
Amish
adj.
1844, American English, from the name of Jacob Amman, 17c. Swiss Mennonite preacher who founded the sect. Originally spelled Omish, which reflects the pronunciation in Pennsylvania German dialect. As a noun, by 1884.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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.
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Note
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.