corn-cracker

[ kawrn-krak-er ]

nounSlang: Disparaging and Offensive.
  1. a contemptuous term used to refer to a member of a class of poor white people in the southern U.S.

Origin of corn-cracker

1
An Americanism dating back to 1825–35; corn1 + cracker

usage note For corn-cracker

This term is used with disparaging intent and is perceived as insulting, being similar in connotation to redneck and hillbilly. Corn-cracker originally referred to a native of Kentucky or Georgia, but has come to apply broadly to any poor white person in the South. See also cracker.

Words Nearby corn-cracker

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use corn-cracker in a sentence

  • The Colonel and I instinctively halted our horses, as the 'corn-cracker' stopped his.

  • I'll be gee-whizzly-gol-dusted if he ain't a malleable-iron-double-back-action self-adjusting corn-cracker.'

    Black Rock | Ralph Connor
  • In the words of Mr. Snell, when he came out from behind the watering-trough: "It was a corn-cracker!"

  • "An' I'm d——d ef I made my wife th' 'oman she ar'," said the corn-cracker.

    Among the Pines | James R. Gilmore
  • Accompanied by the corn-cracker, I entered the turpentine-shed.

    Among the Pines | James R. Gilmore