hamburger
verbEtymology Shortening of Hamburger sandwich, Hamburger steak, etc., the first element borrowed from German Hamburger (“native of Hamburg”), equivalent to Hamburg + -er.
1
Informal To badly injure or damage (a fleshy part of the body).
- The men played baseball on coral diamonds that tore their shoes and clothes and hamburgered their hands.1944, C. G. Morris, Hugh B. Cave, “The Fightin’est Ship”: The Story of the Cruiser “Helena”, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, page 62:
- And his tires triggered no Claymore mines or Bouncing Betties that might have hamburgered his vehicle with him in it.1981, John Nichols, The Nirvana Blues, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, page 283:
4 more examples
- My tears are like gagged pieces of ice cutting up my eyeballs and hamburgering my face.1994, Beatrice Sparks (falsely indicated as editor), It Happened to Nancy: By an Anonymous Teenager, a True Story from Her Diary, Avon Books, published 2005, →ISBN, page 133:
- It’s a trail that has taken more than its fair share of blood, my first flat tire, and hamburgered my entire forearm on a descent.2014, Shannon Galpin, Mountain to Mountain: A Journey of Adventure and Activism for the Women of Afghanistan, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 47:
- Ken broke three fingers and hamburgered his legs, but he still got to his feet, chased down his burro, and continued on to the finish line.2019, Christopher McDougall, Running with Sherman: The Donkey with the Heart of a Hero, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, page 51:
- Why they didn’t both break their necks or get hamburgered by cloven hooves was a mystery.2020, Lynn Stansbury, Crossing the Divide, Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse:
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