junker

See also: Junker

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from German Junker, from Middle High German juncherre (“young lord; not yet knighted nobleman”). Compare younker.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjʊŋkə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

Noun

junker (plural junkers)

1. A young German noble or squire, especially a member of the aristocratic party in Prussia, stereotyped with narrow-minded militaristic and authoritarian attitudes.
   • 1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress:

     Professors of philosophy and science carrying high the patriotic banner of Kultur and culture gloried in the system of compulsory, universal, military service, first made in Germany exulted in the degrading, vicious process of training by which the individual is hypnotized into submission to a brutal organization of military junkers, hallowed by the name of state and Fatherland, it was the darkest period in the history of mankind.

   • 1921 October, Maxwell H. H. Macartney, “An Ex-Enemy in Berlin to-Day”, in The Atlantic‎^[1]:

     The dice are, however, weighted against them, so long as the present generation of Junkers and officials survives.

Alternative forms

• Junker

Derived terms

• junkerdom
• junkerish
• junkerism

References

• “junker”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “junker”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Etymology 2

From junk +‎ -er (relational noun suffix) or +‎ -er (occupational suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒʌŋkə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌŋkə(ɹ)

Noun

junker (plural junkers)

1. (informal, US, Canada, derogatory) A beat-up automobile.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:old car

2. A person with an interest in disused or discarded objects.
   • 1968, Ruth Stearns Egge, How to Make Something from Nothing:

     An ardent junker herself, Mrs. Egge tells how to conduct a fascinating junk safari into the attic or antique and secondhand shops and what to do with the trophies you bring home.

3. (slang) Synonym of junkie (“drug addict”)

References

• (drug addict): Tony Thorne (2014) “junker”, in Dictionary of Contemporary Slang, 4th edition, London,  […]: Bloomsbury