Brownshirt
See also: brownshirt and Brown Shirt
English
Alternative forms
- brownshirt, Brown shirt, brown shirt
Etymology
Calque of German Braunhemd, the nickname for a member of the Sturmabteilung, in reference to their brown uniforms. Equivalent to brown + shirt.
Noun
Brownshirt (plural Brownshirts)
- (historical) A uniformed member of the German Nazi Party (NSDAP), especially a storm trooper of the Sturmabteilung.
- 1977, Patrick Leigh Fermor, “The Munich Hofbräuhaus”, in A Time of Gifts:
- A heavy arched door was pouring a raucous and lurching party of Brownshirts on to the trampled snow. […] Half-way up the vaulted stairs a groaning Brownshirt, propped against the wall on a swastika'd arm, was unloosing, in a staunchless gush down the steps, the intake of hours.
-
- Any member of a fascist party; any fascist or neo-Nazi.
Derived terms
- digital brownshirt
Related terms
- Blackshirt, Blueshirt, Greenshirt
Translations
a uniformed member of the Nazi party
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