wurst
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /wɝst/
ipa: /vɝst/
ipa: /vʊɹst/
ipa: /wɜːst/
ipa: /vɜːst/
ipa: /vʊəst/
homophone: worst stripped-by-parse_pron_post_template_fn
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)st
Forms: form: wursts
form: würst
Etymology: First attested in 1890. Borrowed from German Wurst (“sausage, wurst”), from Middle High German wurst, from Old High German wurst, from Proto-West Germanic *wursti (“something turned or twisted”), from Proto-Indo-European *wert-, *werd- (“to turn”).
Akin to Old Saxon worst (“wurst”), Old English weorþan (“to turn, become”). Doublet of wors. Unrelated to worsted (“type of yarn”). More at worth (“to be, become, betide”).
Senses: examples: text: If you pick up a package of liverwurst (German wurst, sausage), you may find that it contains, in addition to liver, nonfat dry milk, salt, corn syrup, flavorings (unspecified), sodium erythrobate, sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite, gelatin, and dextrose. The list reads like a list of chemicals for a laboratory experiment! If you wish to avoid “chemicals” in your food, wurst is one of the worst things you can buy.
ref: 1975, John W[illiam] Hill, “Food: A Collage of Chemicals”, in Chemistry for Changing Times, 2nd edition, Minneapolis, Minn.: Burgess Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 251:
text: We had a long walk ahead to Stuttgart. We stopped to eat at a little meat market just outside Augsburg. I bought a loaf of bread and chose a couple of packages of wurst. It really was good.
ref: 1973, Sammy Tippit, as told to Jerry Jenkins, “With God in Germany”, in Sammy Tippit: God’s Love in Action, Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, published 1976, →ISBN, page 117:
text: Although the supermarket tannoy was bravely broadcasting Rigoletto, its meat counter was thick with wurst and its wine shelves loaded with Liebfraumilch.
ref: 1987, Christina Hardyment, “Harlekins and Gondolas”, in Heidi’s Alp: One Family’s Search for Storybook Europe, Book Club edition, New York, N.Y.: The Atlantic Monthly Press, →OCLC, page 163:
text: Sure, the map says it’s Italy, but after walking through the centuries-old market at Piazza Erbe (Obstplatz) and seeing one too many suspiciously Teutonic-looking locals munching wurst, you might think you’ve crossed the Austrian border.
ref: 1994, Berkeley students in cooperation with the Associated Students of the University of California, “Bolzano”, in “The Dolomites and the Northeast”, in Italy on the Loose 1995 (The Berkeley Guides: The Budget Traveler’s Handbook), New York, N.Y.: Fodor’s Travel Publications, Inc., →ISBN, page 85:
text: At an open-air flea market, we looked for Nazi memorabilia while munching wurst and drinking beer.
ref: 2009, Tom Davis, “Incidents and Coincidence: Death Camps, Franken, and the Beatles”, in Thirty-Nine Years of Short-Term Memory Loss: The Early Days of SNL from Someone Who Was There, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, →ISBN, page 201:
text: In summer, you're welcomed into a flower-decked garden set against a backdrop of ancient vineyards. You can fill up your platter with some of the best wursts and roast meats (especially the delectable pork), along with freshly made salads.
ref: 2011, Dardis McNamee, Frommer's Austria:
glosses: A German- or Austrian-style sausage.
Derived terms: beerwurst
blood wurst
liverwurst
Related terms: Bierwurst
bierwurst
blutwurst
bockwurst
bratwurst
currywurst
Hanswurst
Hans Wurst
knackwurst
knockwurst
weisswurst
wienerwurst