forty-eighter

English

Alternative forms

• Forty-Eighter, 48er

Noun

forty-eighter (plural forty-eighters)

1. (historical) A European who participated in or supported the Revolutions of 1848.
   • 2001, Frank Trommler, Elliott Shore, editors, The German-American Encounter […] , Berghahn Books, →ISBN, page 27:

     The Wisconsin Republicans sought to placate the Germans by nominating the forty-eighter Karl Roeser as state treasurer.

2. (historical) An early participant of the California Gold Rush, arriving in California in 1848.

   Coordinate term: forty-niner

   • 2008, Edward Joseph Beverly, editor, Chasing the Sun: A Reader's Guide to Novels Set in the American West, Sunstone Press, →ISBN, page 236:

     The forty-eighters were already in California when the gold rush of forty-nine brought thousands of people […]

Further reading

• Forty-Eighters on Wikipedia.Wikipedia