Knickerbocker

See also: knickerbocker

English

Etymology

From Diedrich Knickerbocker, the pseudonym adopted by Washington Irving for his 1809 A History of New York, probably for the Knickerbackers of Schaghticoke, New York, descended from the Dutch immigrant Harmen Jansen van Bommel(l), who went variously by the names van Wy(y)e, van Wyekycback(e), Kinnekerbacker, Knickelbacker, Knickerbacker, Kinckerbacker, Nyckbacker, and Kynckbacker. The surname is of uncertain etymology, being variously explained as a corruption of Wyekycback,[1] Dutch knacker (“cracker”) + German Bäcker, Dutch bakker (“baker”),[2] or Dutch knicker (“marble (toy)”) + German Bäcker, Dutch bakker.[3]

Noun

Knickerbocker (plural Knickerbockers)

  1. (archaic or historical) A New Yorker, particularly a scion of its old Dutch families
  2. (basketball, uncommon) A player for the New York Knicks
  3. (baseball, historical) A player for the New York Knickerbockers

Derived terms
Derived terms

References
  1. Knickerbocker, Howard. "Knickerbocker History (Some Thoughts on the Origins of the Name)".
  2. Arthur, William. An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names, with an Essay on Their Derivation and Import, p. 177. Sheldon, Blakeman & Co. (New York), 1857.
  3. Munsell, Joel. The Annals of Albany, Vol. III. 1850s.
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