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having the same father and mother, as a full brother or sister (usually used in combination):
a brother-german.
born of the brother or sister of one’s father or mother, as a first cousin (usually used in combination):
a cousin-german.
Archaic. .
of or relating to , its inhabitants, or their language.
a native or inhabitant of Germany.
a descendant of a native of Germany.
Also called High German. an Indo-European language that is based on a dialect, is official in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and is also widely used as an international language for scholarship and science.
Abbreviation: G, G.
Linguistics. any variety of speech native to Germany, Austria, or Switzerland.
(usually lowercase) an elaborate social dance resembling a cotillion.
(lowercase) New England and South Atlantic States. a dancing party featuring the german.
Contemporary Examples

german Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and their colleagues haven’t a clue.
Wall Street Will Reform Washington Jeffrey E. Garten April 23, 2010

Take, for example, the german internet millionaire Kim Dotcom, founder of Megaupload, an online file sharing service.
The Zillionaires Who Lost Everything Tom Sykes October 25, 2014

When the german divisions began rolling through Poland, however, something changed in Pujol.
The Spy Who Tricked Hitler: The Story of Double Agent Juan Pujol and D-Day Stephan Talty July 10, 2012

german authorities are investigating an elaborate art-forgery ring that fooled the funnyman and even Christie’s experts.
Steve Martin’s Fake Campendonk: Germany’s Largest Art-Forgery Ring May 31, 2011

Porsche apart, the german sedans have another german quality: Boring.
Nationalism on Four Wheels Clive Irving October 17, 2014

Historical Examples

He was a councillor much in the sense of the modern german “Geheimrath.”
Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam Ephraim Emerton

Many words of the talkative german were running in his mind from the night before.
The Spenders Harry Leon Wilson

There was a little weasel-faced german who excited her suspicion at once.
Gypsy Flight Roy J. Snell

He has made a speech, and dedicated it to german fame for ever.
Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327 Various

His advice was that if it happened I must claim to be a german officer.
Eastern Nights – and Flights Alan Bott

noun
(US) a dance consisting of complicated figures and changes of partners
adjective
(used in combination)

having the same parents as oneself: a brother-german
having a parent that is a brother or sister of either of one’s own parents: cousin-german

a less common word for germane
noun
the official language of Germany and Austria and one of the official languages of Switzerland; the native language of approximately 100 million people. It is an Indo-European language belonging to the West Germanic branch, closely related to English and Dutch. There is considerable diversity of dialects; modern standard German is a development of Old High German, influenced by Martin Luther’s translation of the Bible See also High German, Low German
a native, inhabitant, or citizen of Germany
a person whose native language is German: Swiss Germans, Volga Germans
adjective
denoting, relating to, or using the German language
relating to, denoting, or characteristic of any German state or its people
adj.

“of the same parents or grandparents,” c.1300, from Old French germain “closely related” (12c.), from Latin germanus “full, own (of brothers and sisters); one’s own brother; genuine, real,” related to germen (genitive germinis) “sprout, bud,” dissimilated from PIE *gen(e)-men-, from root *gene- “to give birth, beget” (see genus). Your cousin-german (also first cousin) is the son or daughter of an uncle or aunt; your children and your first cousin’s are second cousins to one another; to you, your first cousin’s children are first cousin once removed.
n.

“Teuton, member of the Germanic tribes,” 1520s (plural Germayns attested from late 14c.), from Latin Germanus, first attested in writings of Julius Caesar, who used Germani to designate a group of tribes in northeastern Gaul, origin unknown, probably the name of an individual tribe. It is perhaps of Gaulish (Celtic) origin, perhaps originally meaning “noisy” (cf. Old Irish garim “to shout”) or “neighbor” (cf. Old Irish gair “neighbor”). The earlier English word was Almain (early 14c.) or Dutch.

Þe empere passede from þe Grees to þe Frenschemen and to þe Germans, þat beeþ Almayns. [John of Trevisa, translation of Higdon’s Polychronicon, 1387]

Their name for themselves was the root word of modern German Deutsch (see Dutch). Roman writers also used Teutoni as a German tribal name, and Latin writers after about 875 commonly refer to the German language as teutonicus. See also Alemanni and Teutonic. As an adjective, from 1550s. The German shepherd (dog) (1922) translates German deutscher Schäferhund. German Ocean as an old name for the North Sea translates Ptolemy. German measles attested by 1856.

human language
\j*r’mn\ A human language written (in latin alphabet) and spoken in Germany, Austria and parts of Switzerland.
German writing normally uses four non-ASCII characters: “äöüß”, the first three have “umlauts” (two dots over the top): A O and U and the last is a double-S (“scharfes S”) which looks like the Greek letter beta (except in capitalised words where it should be written “SS”). These can be written in ASCII in several ways, the most common are ae, oe ue AE OE UE ss or sz and the TeX versions “a “o “u “A “O “U “s.
See also ABEND, blinkenlights, DAU, DIN, gedanken, GMD, kluge.
Usenet newsgroup: news:soc.culture.german. (ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/usenet/news-info/soc.answers/german-faq), (ftp://alice.fmi.uni-passau.de/pub/dictionaries/german.dat.Z).
(1995-03-31)