masc. proper name, Germanic, perhaps from Proto-Germanic *fardi-nanth- and meaning literally "adventurer," with first element perhaps Proto-Germanic *fardiz "journey," abstract noun related to or from *far- "to fare, travel" (from PIE root *per- (2) "to lead, pass over"); second element is Proto-Germanic *nanthiz "risk," related to Old English neðan, Old High German nendan "to risk, venture."
"to reach the maximum level," by 1986, colloquial, from maximize or related words. Related: Maxed; maxing. As a noun, by 1811 in reference to a kind of gin said to be the best, apparently an abbreviation of French maxime.
1975, proprietary name (Sony), from Japanese beta-beta "all over" + max, from English maximum.
German manufacturing company, named for founder Max Braun, mechanical engineer in Frankfurt am Main (1921).
"instrument for viewing the interior of the eye," especially the retina, 1857 in English; coined 1852 by German physician and physicist Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz; see ophthalmo- + -scope.
in physics, in reference to the work of German physicist Max Planck (1858-1947); such as Planck's constant, attested in English from 1901.
1900, from German Zeppelin, short for Zeppelinschiff "Zeppelin ship," after Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838-1917), German general who perfected its design. Compare blimp. Related: Zeppelinous.
"mistake," 1954, apparently a reduplication of boob "stupid person," which had acquired a secondary sense of "foolish mistake" (1934). In 1930s it was the nickname of Philadelphia gangster Max "Boo-Boo" Hoff.
also Moebius, 1904 in reference to the Mobius strip (earlier Moebius unilateral paper strip, 1899), named for German mathematician August Ferdinand Möbius (1790-1868), professor at Leipzig, who devised it and described it in 1865 ("über die Bestimmung des Inhalts eines Polyeders", Nov. 27, 1865).
