Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
forty-niner [fawr-tee-nahy-ner] ExamplesWord Origin noun
- a person, especially a prospector, who went to California in 1849 during the gold rush.
Origin of forty-niner An Americanism dating back to 1850–55 Related Words for forty-niners bloodsucker, leech, parasite, sponge, user, exploiter, forty-niner, mineworker Examples from the Web for forty-niners Historical Examples of forty-niners
“My father was one of the ‘forty-niners,'” put in Jim, eagerly.
Francis Rolt-Wheeler
I do not doubt they too were Forty-niners; but I did not stop.
Stewart White
Min was exactly the type of girl to fit into the story of The 123 Forty-Niners.
Alice B. Emerson
These first comers were called the Forty-Niners, because most of them came in the year 1849.
A Short History of the United States
Edward Channing
Excuse this diversion, I must get back to my subject, the days of the forty-niners.
The Adventures of a Forty-niner
Daniel Knower
British Dictionary definitions for forty-niners forty-niner noun
- (sometimes capital) US history a prospector who took part in the California gold rush of 1849
- 49er a type of dinghy, designed to be crewed by two people
forty-niners in Culture forty-niners
Those who flocked to California in 1849 in search of gold, which had been discovered there in 1848. Reportedly, there were about eighty thousand of them.