German English Words: M

Machtpolitik, machtpolitik n.

from Machtpolitik "power politics": international diplomacy in which each nation uses or threatens to use military or economic power to further its own interests. The English term power politics is a loan translation of Machtpolitik. Machtpolitik is sometimes used as a singular noun as it is in German and sometimes in the plural, as power politics is. [< German Macht "power, might" + Politik "politics, policy"]. See also Ostpolitik, Realpolitik , Wehrmacht, Weltpolitik and Westpolitik . This entry suggested by Christiane Leißner.

"In fact, Nazi Germany was the indomitable enemy of the Western democracies, Soviet Russia was their indispensable ally, while the right of national self-determination was a weapon of Hitler's Machtpolitik only." Stephen Borsody, The New Central Europe: Triumphs & Tragedies , 1993.
"But Machtpolitik, the rule of force, is cruel: with the Kahama out of the way, the Kasekelans' new neighbors were the powerful Kalande -- and now the ranks of the Kasekela started to thin." Mark Ridley, "Going Ape", review of Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence by Richard Wrangham & Dale Peterson, The New York Times, Oct. 27, 1996.
"The apparent transformation of New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani from ruthless master of metropolitan machtpolitik into compassionate hybrid of Hamlet, the Duke of Windsor and Graham Greene raises a fascinating question. Can a person really, and I mean fundamentally, change?" Mark Leyner, "A Changed Man? No Such Animal", Time , Jun. 5, 2000.
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märchen n.

from Märchen "fairy tale, fable, myth, tall story, fib, cock-and-bull story": tale, folktale, fairy story [< German obsolete Mär, Märe "fairy tale, tale, news" + diminutive -chen].

"'Surely there is the handful of nursery märchen that start, "Once in the middle of the forest there lived an old witch" or "The devil was out walking one day and met a child,"' said Oatsie, who was showing that she had some education as well as grit." Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West , 1995. This example shows the correct German plural of the word, which is the same as the singular.
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mark, -mark n.

See deutsche mark, reichsmark.

masochism , masochist n., masochistic adj., masochistically adv.

from Masochismus "masochism": getting (sexual) pleasure from being dominated, mistreated or hurt, named for Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, 1835-1895, Austrian writer in whose stories it is described. This entry suggested by Wilton Woods.

"(Heterosexual) sado-masochism is the enactment of surrender, and demand for such surrender, to sheer overwhelming might instead of the loving request and avid surrender to the power of (mutual) authority which is exercised for the mutual good of the partners." H. Vernon Sattler, Challenging Children to Chastity: a Parental Guide , 1991.
"All other themes for action are, by virtue of their unintended air of masochism, unfit for the calculating citizenry." Adilkno (Foundation for the Advancement of Illegal Knowledge), Media Archive , 1998.
"Late in the film, O burns an 'O' into Sir Stephen's hand, and Ted saw this as the completion of her development, sadism now accompanying masochism." Norman N. Holland, The Critical I , 1992, p. 20.
"Masochism corresponds to the passivism of Stefanowski, and is the opposite of sadism, in which the pleasure is derived from inflicting pain on the object of affection." George Milbry Gould & Walter Lytle Pyle, Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine , 1896, p. 480.
"The thing itself, indeed, might be reasonably described as a special feminine character; there is in it, in more than one of its manifestations, a femaleness as palpable as the femaleness of cruelty, masochism or rouge." H.L. Mencken, In Defense of Women , 1920.
"But economic masochism is a way of life, as American as Japanese VCRs." Christopher John Farley, My Favorite War: A Novel .
"Beginning with childhood, Kinsey had lived with two shameful secrets: he was both a homosexual and a masochist." James Howard Jones, Alfred C. Kinsey: A Public/Private Life .
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Mauser n.

from Mauser "Mauser": a trademark used for a repeating rifle or pistol, named for Peter Paul & Wilhelm Mauser, German weapons manufacturers [< German Mauser "mouser, mouse catcher" < Middle High German mus < Old High German mus].

"Personal handguns such as Mauser pistols were borrowed from machine-gun companies and anit-panzer units." Eloise Engle & Lauri Paananen, The Winter War: The Soviet Attack on Finland 1939-1940 , 1973, p. 111.
"... the workers began to wreck their arms. They did it with practised hands, striking a Mauser with a Browning and a Browning with a Mauser." Leon Trotsky, My Life .
"Across his chest he laid his Mauser rifle, lingering affectionately for a moment to wipe the dampness from the barrel." Jack London, The House of Pride and Other Tales of Hawaii .
"When I can tell at sight a Mauser rifle from a javelin", Gilbert & Sullivan, The Pirates of Penzance .
"I had brought out a shot-gun of my own, and I borrowed a cheap Mauser sporting rifle from the store." John Buchan, Prester John .
"Sin Sin Wa, crooning his strange song, came in carrying a coil of rope--and a Mauser pistol!" Sax Rohmer, Dope .
"'And he has two Mauser holes in him.'" Richard Harding Davis, Lion and the Unicorn , 1899, p. 95.
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meerschaum n.

from Meerschaum "sea foam": a light, heat-resisting, hydrous magnesium silicate, sepiolite.

"At Paris, just after dark one gusty evening in the autumn of 18--, I was enjoying the twofold luxury of meditation and a meerschaum, in company with my friend C. August Dupin in his little back library, or book-closet, au troisieme, Rue Dunot, Faubourg St. Germain." Edgar Allan Poe, "The Purloined Letter", Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe , p. 125.
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Mein Herr n.

from mein Herr "Sir, My Lord": [< German mein "my" + Herr "lord, master, Mr."]. See also Herrenvolk.

"Consider yourself under arrest, Mein Herr." Ian Fleming, From Russia with Love: A James Bond Novel , 2002, p. 162.

-meister n. suffix

"master" often slang or humorous, one who is renowned for, has expertise in, or is a connoisseur of, for example angstmeister, cartelmeister, chatmeister, dietmeister, dramameister, grungemeister, mediameister, schlockmeister, shlockmeister, spinmeister, talkmeister, wordmeister [< German Meister < Middle High German meister < Old High German meistar < Latin magister "chairman, leader, teacher"]. See also Kapellmeister, Konzertmeister, waldmeister.

"Thousands of Indians around and I get paired with the wackomeister of the wigwams", Tom K. Ryan, Tumbleweeds , Jul. 1, 2004.
"You're a Harvard historian, for God's sake, not a pop schlockmeister looking for a quick buck." Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code , 2003, p. 163. [schlock "damaged or shoddy merchandise" possibly < Yiddish shlak "apoplexy, stroke, wretch, evil, nuisance" < Middle High German slag, slak "stroke" < slahen "to strike" < Old High German slahan, related to Modern German Schlag "a hit, blow, stroke"]
"Last week the company scored a coup by landing a deal to co-produce English-lingo series 'Queen of Swords' for powerhouse telco-turned-mediameister Telefonica Media and Canada's Fireworks Entertainment (see separate story on this page)." John Hopewell, "Morena toppers take global view" Variety , May 1, 2000.
"Demos holds seminars at 11 Downing Street, Mulgan has become a member of Blair's 'policy unit,' and Leadbeater, who was rumored last year to be the prime minister's very favorite political thinker, boasts blurbs from Blair as well as Peter Mandelson, the notorious 'New Labour' spinmeister, on the dust jacket of his book." Thomas Frank, "Connexity" Harper's Magazine , May 2000.
"But when [Microsoft chairman Bill] Gates called [Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Orrin] Hatch on Feb. 12, the Softmeister was anything but restrained." Steven Levy, "Microsoft vs. the World" Newsweek International, Mar. 9, 1998, p. 36.
"It is this arcane legal regime, more than cultural differences, that keeps U.S. businessmen from acting like Japanese keiretsu lords or European cartelmeisters, who often casually fix industry prices in their stagnant economies." Michael Hirsch, "The Feds' Case Against Bill Gates" Newsweek International, Mar. 9, 1998, p. 41.
"Sure! 'Bearmeister'! 'Bunny Boy'! 'Antler Guy'!" G.B. Trudeau, Doonesbury , Apr. 3, 2002.

Meistersinger n.

"master singer": a member of the German guilds for poets and musicians of the 14^th, 15^th, and 16^th centuries.

"The other night, when we were heading off a steamer and firing six-pounders across her bows, the band was playing the 'star' song from the Meistersinger." Richard Harding Davis, Adventures and Letters of Richard Harding Davis , 1917, p. 230.
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Meistersinging n.

the act of performing as a Meistersinger.

"[Jacob Grimm's] other works include Über den altdeutschen Meistergesang (On the Old German Meistersinging, 1811), Deutsche Mythologie (German Mythology, 1835), and Geschichte der deutschen Sprache (History of the German Language, 1848)." "Grimm Brothers", Microsoft® Encarta® 96 Encyclopedia, 1996.

mensch , mensh n. menschy adj. menschiness n.

related to Mensch "person, human being": a person of integrity and honor [< Yiddish mentsch, mentsh, mensh, mench < Middle High German mensch < Old High German mennisco, mannisco; related to English man + -ish]. See also luftmensch.

"What a mensch, I thought. What a gifted and sensitive soul." Elinor Lipman, "A Famous Author Says 'Swell Book! Loved It!'" In: Jane Smiley, Writers on Writing, Volume II: More Collected Essays from The New York Times , 2003, p. 148.
"As Kepesh shows signs of becoming a mensh, one may feel the black humor of the absurd as one appreciates Kepesh's underlying awareness of mortality." Elaine B. Safer, Mocking the Age: The Later Novels of Philip Roth , 2006, p. 145.
"He [Jonathan Silverman] has gone from being the Triple A Matthew Broderick to being an adequately menschy David Schwimmer." David Wild, In: Colin M. Jarman, The Nasty Quote Book , 2001, p. 74.
"Menschiness has suddenly become cool." Wendy Cole, "Q & A: Finding a Mensch Mate", Time , Feb. 14, 2006.
Robin Gorman Newman, How to Meet a Mensch in New York: A Decent, Responsible Person Even Your Mother Would Love .
Davis Weiss, The Mensch .
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Mensch at Wikipedia

mesmerism, mesmerist, mesmerizer, mesmeriser, mesmerization, mesmerisation n., mesmeric adj., mesmerize, mesmerise v.t.

from Mesmerismus: animal magnetism, hypnotism, compelling attraction, fascination, named for Franz or Friedrich Anton Mesmer, 1733-1815, German or Austrian physician [Swiss German Mesmer, Messmer "sexton, sacristan, verger" < German Mesner, Messner < Old High German mesinari < Middle Latin masionarius, mansionarius "sexton; building caretaker" < Latin mansio "place one stays or lives", related to English mansion].

"Harry paused to watch them, for the effect was quite mesmerising." J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) , 2007, p. 205.
"Premstar was concentrating on her cards and the others were just staring out the open door, mesmerized by the rain." T.C. Boyle, Drop City , 2004, p. 314.
"Normally I would have considered this [medical] exam a joke, but instead I found myself totally mesmerized." Fran Drescher, Cancer Schmancer , 2002, p. 179.
"They felt underdressed in the lobby and in the bar, where they sat mesmerized by the people who were clearly more at ease about simply being in Le Bristol than they were." John Irving, The Fourth Hand , 2001, p. 22.
"Dislocate your spine if you don't sign, he says, 'I'll have you seeing double.' Mesmerize you when he's tongue-tied simply with those eyes. Synchronize your minds and see the beast within him rise." Queen, "Flick of the Wrist", Sheer Heart Attack , words and music by Freddie Mercury, 1974.
"I resolved to try on Winters, silently, and unconsciously to himself a mesmeric power which I possess over certain kinds of people, and which at times I have found to work even in the dark over the lower animals." Mark Twain, Roughing It , 1871, p. 587.
"Many persons affirmed that the history and elucidation of the facts, long so mysterious, had been obtained by the daguerreotypist from one of those mesmerical seers, who, now-a-days, so strangely perplex the aspect of human affairs, and put everybody's natural vision to the blush, by the marvels which they see with their eyes shut." Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of Seven Gables , 1851, p. 243.
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milch adj.

related to Milch n. "milk": giving milk, kept for milking. [English milch does not derive from German Milch but rather from Middle English -milche, Old English -milc(e) and Anglo-Saxon -milce, -meolc, but is included here due to common spellings and origins. The common Indo-European root *melg- meant "to stroke, press out, wipe off, milk". Therefore the verb to milk originally had nothing to do with the noun milk and is etymologically earlier, and the adjective milch is derived from the verb meaning to milk.] A milch cow, milk cow in Modern English is a Melkkuh, Milchkuh in Modern German. See also Liebfraumilch.

"The little milch beasts had been caught by it, too." Anne McCaffrey, The Renegades of Pern , Del Rey, New York, 1990, p. 132.
"Besides sixteen mules, the little party included a German shepherd bitch and a younger dog, two female cats and a tom, a fresh milch goat with two kids and a buck, two cocks and six hens of the hardy Mrs. Awkins variety, a freshly bred sow, and Dora and Woodrow Smith." Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love , New English Library, London, 1981, p. 302 (first published 1974).

minnesinger n.

from Minnesänger "singer of love songs": a German lyric poet-composer of the 12^th to the 14^th century.

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Karl Weatherly/Corbis: Skier on a mogul run: Brett Dueter skis moguls in Sun Valley, Idaho (detail)

mogul n.

from Mugl (Austrian dialect): a bump on a ski slope.

"At the 1992 Olympics, where moguls skiing was first included as an official Olympic sport, Weinbrecht won the gold medal." "Weinbrecht, Donna", Microsoft® Encarta® 98 Encyclopedia.
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mol, mole n.

from Mol "mol": in chemistry, a gram molecule, molecular weight of a substance in grams. The German Mol is an abbreviation of Molekulargewicht "molecular weight" or Grammolekül "gram molecule".

"In 1971 the mole was defined as the amount of substance of a system that contains as many elementary entities as there are atoms in 0.012 kilogram of carbon-12." "International System of Units", Microsoft® Encarta® 98 Encyclopedia, 1998.
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muesli, Copyright 2001 by Robbin D. Knapp

muesli n.

from Müesli, Müsli "muesli": a breakfast cereal of Swiss origin consisting of untoasted, rolled oats, nuts and dried fruit; granola [< Swiss German dialect dim. of German Mus "mush" < Middle High German muos "meal" < Old High German muos; related to Old English mOs "food"]. This entry suggested by Aldorado Cultrera .

"Somebody did own that view, could sit there every morning with his muesli and orange juice, in his Yves St Laurent bathrobe and Gucci slippers, and look out on this sweep of Mediterranean heaven." Bill Bryson, Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe , 1991, p. 187.
"It is primarily confectionery, chocolates and muesli products that Aldi has decided to drop from its assortment, as well as products supplied by US food group Kellogg." "Aldi slashes sale of brands", Eurofood, Mar. 11, 1999.
Mary Riddell, "The reporting of the story of Cook, his wife and his lover makes it plain that affair-speak is still as mealy-mouthed as dry muesli." New Statesman, Aug. 8, 1997.
Vegetarian Recipe .Com Muesli
Muesli at Midnight , by Aidan Carl Mathews, 1990.
Midges, Maps and Muesli , by Helen Krasner, 1998.
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Munchausen, Munchhausen, Münchhausen, Münchausen, Munchausen syndrome n.

from Münchhausen: fantasist, somebody who makes up fantastic stories in order to impress others; tall story, a fantastic story full of exaggeration, told to impress people [< Baron Karl Friedrich Hieronymus von Münchhausen (1720-1797), of a book of impossible adventures written in English by the German author Rudolf Eric Raspe < the German town of Münchhausen < German Mönch "monk" + -hausen "settlement" < Haus "house"].

"What about exposing a fraud–a modern Munchausen–and making him rideeculous [sic]?" Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World , 2004, p. 11.
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Knapp, Robbin D. 2011. "GermanEnglishWords.com: M". In Robb: GermanEnglishWords.com . Apr. 18, 2011.

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