American

Less common meanings

4. 4
   person (both continents)nouncountable

   Any inhabitant of the Americas, whether of North or South America.

   To a mapmaker, a Chilean is as much an American as a Texan.

   The summit gathered Americans from twenty countries across both continents.

   Note

   Here the word follows the map rather than the passport. In everyday English it loses ground to the national meaning, which a bare American calls up by default. Writers who mean the whole hemisphere usually signal it, with phrases like Americans of both continents or Americans from twenty countries, so the reader is not left guessing.

5. 5
   cheesenoununcountableabbreviationclipping

   A mild processed cheese, especially in single slices; short for American cheese.

   He ordered the burger with American instead of cheddar.

   The deli melts American over the patty unless you ask for provolone.

   UsageOften in orders and on menus: with American, a slice of American. Keeps its capital letter.

   Note

   A clipping heard at the deli counter and on menus, where American sits in a list beside Swiss, cheddar and provolone. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • American, meaning the cheese, is a clipping of American cheese. en.wiktionary.org
6. 6
   US Englishnouncolloquialhumorousuncountable

   The English language as spoken in the United States, informally treated as a language of its own.

   The guidebook translates common British phrases into American for travelers.

   After five years in Texas, his American was flawless, right down to the drawl.

   UsageUsed in phrases such as speak American. In formal writing, use American English.

   Note

   Ambrose Bierce turned it into a usage verdict in Write it Right (1909) with "Good American, but not good English," and the joke still depends on that contrast. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Ambrose Bierce wrote Write It Right, published in 1909. gutenberg.org
   • Bierce used the exact words “Good American, but not good English” as a usage verdict. gutenberg.org
7. 7
   Indigenousadjectivearchaic

   Connected with the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, or coming from them.

   The colonists relied on American knowledge of local plants, taught to them by native guides.

   The museum displays American featherwork made centuries before European contact.

8. 8
   native personnounarchaic

   An indigenous inhabitant of the Americas; a member of its native peoples.

   Colonial traders exchanged iron goods with the Americans along the river.

   The Americans believe that all creatures have souls.

   1711, Joseph Addison, The Spectator

   UsageIn modern writing, use Indigenous peoples of the Americas, or name the specific people or nation when known.

   Note

   Older prose can use the word for the continent's first peoples. When Joseph Addison wrote in The Spectator in 1711 that "the Americans believe that all creatures have souls," he meant native peoples, not settlers. In early texts, check which Americans are meant. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Joseph Addison wrote the quoted words in The Spectator in 1711, specifically in No. 56, dated May 4. gutenberg.org
   • Older prose could use American for Indigenous peoples, and Addison's passage uses it in that sense. gutenberg.org
9. 9
   British coloniesadjectivehistorical

   Of, from, or pertaining to British North America, Britain's colonies on the North American continent.

   American merchants shipped timber and tobacco to ports across the Atlantic.

   The American colonies bristled at taxes imposed from Westminster.

   Similarcolonial

10. 10
    person (British colonies)nounhistoricalcountable

    A citizen or inhabitant of British America, the British colonies that preceded the United States.

    The Americans petitioned the Crown for relief from the new duties.

    Every American in Boston felt the weight of the port's closure.

    Similarcolonist

    Note

    Here the word belongs to the colonial period, when the Americans were subjects of the Crown living across the Atlantic. It survives in historical narrative (the Americans protested, the Americans petitioned), and context has to keep it apart from citizens of the republic. Often they are the same people, only before the flag changed. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • In this historical sense, Americans were inhabitants of Britain's American colonies and subjects of the Crown. blogs.loc.gov
    • People described as colonial Americans could subsequently be Americans belonging to the independent republic. archives.gov
11. 11
    person (Latin colonies)nounobsolete

    An inhabitant of the French or Spanish colonies in the New World.

    Wealthy Americans from Saint-Domingue kept townhouses in the port of Bordeaux.

    An American from New Spain might cross the ocean to Cadiz only once in his life.

    Note

    Washington Irving complained of the ambiguity in The Knickerbocker in 1839. When he announced himself as an American in France, he was taken for someone from the French colonies, and in Spain for a man from Mexico or Peru. The word followed whichever empire the listener knew. It is obsolete now, met only when reading older sources. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Washington Irving's discussion appeared in The Knickerbocker in 1839, in “National Nomenclature.” en.wikisource.org
    • Irving reported being mistaken in France for someone from the French colonies and in Spain for someone from Mexico or Peru. gutenberg.org
    • The association with the listener's empire summarizes Irving's reported French and Spanish interpretations; it is an inference from his examples. gutenberg.org
12. 12
    type sizenoundatedUSuncountable

    A size of printing type smaller than the size called German; one-point type.

    In the old printers' tables, American is the smallest named size of type, just below German.

    Type as small as American was a curiosity of the scale rather than something printers set text in.

    Note

    Printers once gave type sizes names as well as numbers, and American sat at the very bottom, one step below German. The name belongs to US printing usage and is now dated and rare, kept alive mainly in descriptions of older typesetting. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Printers assigned names as well as numerical measurements to type sizes. galleyrack.com
    • American was the smallest named size in this scale, at one point, immediately below German at one and a half points. galleyrack.com
    • The printing sense belongs to US usage. en.wiktionary.org
13. 13
    adjective

    Of an option: able to be exercised on any date between its issue and its expiry.
14. 14
    noun

    A steam locomotive of the 4-4-0 wheel arrangement, with four leading wheels and four driving wheels.