Forty-niner (Noun)
Meaning
A miner who took part in the California gold rush in 1849.
Classification
Nouns denoting people.
Examples
- The old prospector was a proud forty-niner who had braved the perils of the California trails in search of gold.
- As a forty-niner, Jack Harris had arrived in California with little more than a pick and a pan.
- Most forty-niners were men of tough determination, but Sarah Jenkins proved that women too could stake a claim to the golden fields.
- Many forty-niners had initially gone to California by sailing ship around South America's Cape Horn, a grueling six-month journey.
- Some successful forty-niners stayed on in California and eventually became influential figures in the state's early politics.