| 释义 |
peckerwood U.S.|ˈpɛkəwʊd|
[f. woodpecker with reversal of the two elements.]
a. A woodpecker. dial.
1859Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 314 Peckerwood, Western for Woodpecker. 1893H. A. Shands Some Peculiarities of Speech in Mississippi 49 Peckerwood, woodpecker. Bartlett says that this word is Western. It is also heard very frequently in Mississippi, as in Tennessee. 1909F. B. Calhoun Miss Minerva 140 A big, red-headed peckerwood. 1926E. M. Roberts Time of Man 153 Not had the sense of a pecker-wood. 1935Z. N. Hurston Mules & Men i. vi. 137 Ah wasn't gointer kill no ole tough peckerwood for you to eat, baby. 1940R. Wood Amer. Mother Goose 55 Peckerwood a-settin' on a swingin' limb, Blue-bird a-buildin' in the garden. 1947J. H. Brown Outdoors Unlimited 76 Sitting there watching the jays and peckerwoods and listening to the distant shrillings of a hawk, I thought Lucius looked tougher than a pine-knot. 1968Harper's Mag. Sept. 61/1, I even liked what the kids at Tuskegee Institute called ‘those crazy li'l ol' peckerwoods’.
b. slang. Also peckawood. A white person, esp. a poor one. Also transf.
1929T. Gordon Born to Be 236 Peckerwood, a poor white man. 1929C. McKay Banjo 217 For example, we have words like ofay..peckawood..and so on. 1941W. C. Handy Father of Blues vi. 86 Mound Bayou had no such words addressed to ‘peckerwoods’ or ‘rednecks’. 1942W. Faulkner Go Down, Moses 255 Even a Delta peckerwood would look after even a draggle-tail better than that. 1947Sat. Rev. Lit. (U.S.) 29 Mar. 13/2 There is a difference between white plantation people and the white ‘peckerwoods’ of the hills. 1966R. G. Toepfer Witness ii. 11 They was three peckerwoods had the boy. 1967C. Major in A. Chapman New Black Voices (1972) 299 How come so many Of us niggers Are dying over there In that white Man's war They say more of us Are dying Than them peckerwoods & it just Don't make sense. 1967Trans-Action Apr. 27/2 There is a social distinction here between the white elite and the ‘redneck’ or ‘peckerwood’ families. 1967N.Y. Times 7 Sept. 42/4 When I tried to get into the black caucus, they said, ‘No peckerwoods allowed in here, Sonny.’ 1974New Yorker 29 Apr. 94/2 A horse can be well one day and a sick peckerwood the next. 1974E. Brawley Rap (1975) ii. xxiv. 374 And we done, peckerwood, we finished.
Add:B. adj. Small, insignificant, inferior (often applied to sawmills and to timbering operations). U.S. (chiefly Southern).
1866C. H. Smith Bill Arp 95 If it didn't rain any more and the entire crop was prudently gathered, he might probably make a peck to the acre of peckerwood nubbins. 1941H. C. Nixon Possum Trot 110 Little portable, or ‘peckerwood’ sawmills which go from timber patch to timber patch. 1946Newsweek 15 Apr. 68/1 Conditions encourage not the efficient experienced producers but the peckerwood..operators. 1957Time 23 Sept. 13/1 The answers lie deep within a politician who fought his way out of a peckerwood background. 1963Sat. Even. Post 16 Feb. 70/2 Forestry was a hit-and-run business, with the little peckerwood sawmills stripping the countryside. 1989New Yorker 11 Dec. 136/3 The stern, melodramatic portrait of Earl's older brother Huey as a fantastic demagogue—a Peckerwood Caligula. |