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crackers

 - 5 dictionary results

crack⋅er

[krak-er]
–noun
1. a thin, crisp biscuit.
2. a firecracker.
3. Also called cracker bonbon. a small paper roll used as a party favor, that usually contains candy, trinkets, etc., and that pops when pulled sharply at one or both ends.
4. (initial capital letter) Sometimes Disparaging and Offensive. a native or inhabitant of Georgia (used as a nickname).
5. Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. a poor white person living in some rural parts of the southeastern U.S.
6. snapper (def. 5).
7. braggart; boaster.
8. a person or thing that cracks.
9. a chemical reactor used for cracking. Compare catalytic cracking, fractionator.
–adjective
10. crackers, Informal. wild; crazy: They went crackers over the new styles.

Origin:
1400–50; late ME craker. See crack, -er 1 ; (defs. 4–5) perh. orig. in sense “braggart,” applied to frontiersmen of the southern American colonies in the 1760s, though subsequently given other interpretations (cf. corn-cracker ); for crackers crazy, cf. cracked, -ers
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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crack·er   (krāk'ər)   
n.  
  1. A thin crisp wafer or biscuit, usually made of unsweetened dough.

  2. One that cracks, especially:

    1. A firecracker.

    2. A small cardboard cylinder covered with decorative paper that holds candy or a party favor and pops when a paper strip is pulled at one or both ends and torn.

    3. The apparatus used in the cracking of petroleum.

    4. One who makes unauthorized use of a computer, especially to tamper with data or programs.

    5. Used as a disparaging term for a poor white person of the rural, especially southeast United States.

    6. Used as a disparaging term for a white person.

  3. Offensive

    1. Used as a disparaging term for a poor white person of the rural, especially southeast United States.

    2. Used as a disparaging term for a white person.

crack·ers   (krāk'ərz)   
adj.   Chiefly British Slang
Insane; mad.

[Probably from cracker, breakdown.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
bonkers [ˈbɔŋkɚz]

  1. mod.
    and crackers. insane; crazy. : I think I am going crackers.
  2. mod.
    slightly intoxicated. : She's too bonkers to drive.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

cracker 
1440, "hard wafer," but the specific application to a thin, crisp biscuit is 1739. Cracker-barrel (adj.) "emblematic of down-home ways and views" is from 1877. Cracker, Southern U.S. derogatory term for "poor, white trash" (1766), is from c.1450 crack "to boast" (e.g. not what it's cracked up to be), originally a Scottish word. Especially of Georgians by 1808, though often extended to residents of northern Florida.
"I should explain to your Lordship what is meant by crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless set of rascalls on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas and Georgia, who often change their places of abode." [1766, G. Cochrane]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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