hamburger
[ham-bur-ger]
- a sandwich consisting of a cooked patty of ground or chopped beef, usually in a roll or bun, variously garnished.
- ground or chopped beef.
- Also called Hamburg steak. a patty of ground or chopped beef, seasoned and fried or broiled.
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Also ham·burg [ham-burg] /ˈhæm bɜrg/.
Origin of hamburger
Also called beefburger.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for hamburger
Contemporary Examples
As chefs set their sights upon upgrading the hamburger, an agreed-upon definition of the classic version was needed.
Have We Reached ‘Peak Burger’? The Crazy Fetishization of Our Most Basic Comfort FoodBrandon Presser
July 31, 2014
In El Reno, when you order a hamburger, an onion-fried burger is assumed, unless you instruct the cook to leave the onions out.
The cheese is arranged so that only about one-quarter of each slice rests atop the hamburger.
The girls ignored him and then ducked into a hamburger shop.
“Maybe if my name was hamburger, the picture would have been different,” he joked.
Historical Examples
Better stay and have some Hamburger and onions, advised Anthony, with a smile.
Weatherby's InningRalph Henry Barbour
Not for her the impenetrable mysteries of a hamburger and onions.
Roast Beef, MediumEdna Ferber
We have left the Englishmen behind us, and now have caught up with the Hamburger.
Five Weeks in a BalloonJules Verne
The Breton was all passion and melancholy; the Hamburger all fancy and satire.
Amiel's JournalHenri-Frdric Amiel
Hamburger steak and pork liver often contain more manure germs than the fresh droppings of animals.
Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Twenty-Fifth Annual MeetingNorthern Nut Growers Association
hamburger
hamburg
- a flat fried cake of minced beef, often served in a bread rollAlso called: Hamburger steak, beefburger
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Word Origin
C20: shortened from Hamburger steak (that is, steak in the fashion of Hamburg)
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
Word Origin and History for hamburger
n.
1610s, "native of Hamburg;" the meat product so called from 1884, hamburg steak, named for the German city of Hamburg, though no certain connection has ever been put forth, and there may not be one unless it be that Hamburg was a major port of departure for German immigrants to United States. Meaning "a sandwich consisting of a bun and a patty of grilled hamburger meat" attested by 1912. Shortened form burger attested from 1939; beefburger was attempted 1940, in an attempt to make the main ingredient more explicit, after the -burger had taken on a life of its own as a suffix (cf. cheeseburger, first attested 1938).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper