Alsatian

• alsatian (dog)

• enPR: ăl-sā'shən, IPA^(key): /ælˈseɪʃən/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Alsatian (not comparable)

1. Of, from or relating to Alsace (now part of the administrative region of Grand Est, France).
   • 1962 August, “Beyond the Channel: France: Paris Est renaissance”, in Modern Railways, page 133/134:

     [...] while the 7 p.m. is the fastest locomotive-hauled train to Strasbourg reaching the Alsatian capital (313 miles) in 4hr 11min [...].

Alsatian (plural Alsatians)

1. A native or inhabitant of Alsace (now part of the administrative region of Grand Est, France).
2. (Australia, New Zealand, British, dated US) A German shepherd dog.
   • 2020, Paul Mendez, Rainbow Milk, Dialogue Books (2021), page 56:

     Even the dogs here are restrained, Jesse thought, unlike the feral Alsatians back home that would sprint barking from the bottom of the garden straight through the house and smash themselves against the inside of the door until their owners appeared and locked them away.

3. (UK, obsolete) A rogue or debauchee, like those who haunted Alsatia in London.
   • 1822, Sir Walter Scott, chapter XVII, in The Fortunes of Nigel, Edinburgh:

     You shall sink a nobleman in the Temple Gardens, and rise an Alsatian at Whitefriars.

• Alsatian was an official name for the German Shepherd Dog in many Commonwealth nations, and although no longer official, remains in common everyday usage in many countries including the United Kingdom.

• (person): Elsatian, Elsassian (rare, in German contexts)
• (dog): Alsatian shepherd, German Shepherd

Alsatian

1. The Germanic lect (language or dialect) spoken in Alsace.

• Alemannic

• The Macquarie Dictionary

• Altaians