Skip to main content
knickerbocker

knickerbocker

5 9.9
A person whose family has lived in New York City for many generations
  • noun
  • /ˈnɪkərˌbɑkər/
  • Archaic
translation icon : neoyorquino
  • As a lifelong knickerbocker, she knew all the best places to visit in the city that her family had called home for generations.
  • Ms. Knickerbocker
  • Diane Knickerbocker
  • Brad Knickerbocker

Examples

  • The festival celebrated the knickerbockers of New York City, recognizing their contributions to the city's rich history and culture.

  • "All cash and securities are to be handled "by the Knickerbocker Trust Company.

  • After a while, you always waited for the Knickerbocker News because it would have the late sports scores.

    Blog text (29)
  • Will you kindly tell Miss Dennis that Mr. Babcock of the Knickerbocker Bank is here?

  • In 1898, he had resigned as Assistant Secretary of the Navy and recruited the Rough Riders from the membership of his Knickerbocker Club.

    Academic text (2003)
  • Furthermore, the Knickerbockers are 3-0 for the first time since the 1999-2000 season, and for the first time seem to have an identity behind head coach Mike Woodson.

    Blog text (26)
  • In 1848, The Knickerbocker magazine of New York ran an article called "Historical Sketches of Georgia" with passages lifted directly from Hewat.

    Academic text (2015)
  • Currently on a non-guaranteed contract, taking a risk on the veteran big man was a low-risk, high-reward type move for the Knickerbockers.

    Blog text (6)
  • I understand the pain that all of you are going through after our beloved Knickerbockers fell to the Brooklyn Nets in the first-ever game between the crosstown rivals, in a game that was nicknamed the "Clash of the Boroughs."

    Blog text (13)
  • As the last Managing Editor of The Knickerbocker News before it merged with the TU on April 16, 1988, and thus intimately acquainted with both publications, I have a vastly different recollection of what the papers contained.

    Blog text (29)

Synonyms

New Yorker
vsknickerbocker
146 2.8

A person born in or living in New York City

is a long-established local often descended from early Dutch settlers
Manhattanite
vsknickerbocker
2 5.1

A person who lives in Manhattan, New York City

is a long-established city resident with ancestral roots, not just a borough resident
Brooklynite
vsknickerbocker
1 4.7

A person who lives in or comes from Brooklyn, New York City

is tied to old family history in the city rather than modern borough identity

Surface Forms

knickerbocker singular

Etymology

The word Knickerbocker for a native New Yorker comes from the same made-up name Diedrich Knickerbocker, which stood for the old Dutch families of early New York, so it came to mean a long-time or native city resident.