Also called crack·er bon·bon . 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.
(initial capital letter)Slang: Sometimes Disparaging and Offensive. a native or inhabitant of Georgia or Florida (used as a nickname).
Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a white person in the South, especially a poor white living in some rural parts of the southeastern U.S.
Slang. black hat (def. 2).
snapper (def. 5).
braggart; boaster.
a person or thing that cracks.
a chemical reactor used for cracking. Compare catalytic cracking, fractionator.
adjective
crack·ers,Informal. wild; crazy: They went crackers over the new styles.
Origin of cracker
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English craker; see crack, -er1; defs. 4, 5 were perhaps originally in sense “braggart,” applied to frontiersmen of the southern American colonies in the 1760s, though subsequently given other interpretations (cf. corn-cracker); for def. 11crackers “crazy,” cf. cracked, -ers
usage note for cracker
The term cracker is used as a neutral nickname by inhabitants of Georgia and Florida; it is a positive term of self-reference. But when the nickname is used by outsiders, it is usually with disparaging intent and perceived as insulting by Georgians and Floridians. Cracker is always disparaging and offensive when used to refer to a poor white person in the South; the word in this sense often implies that the person is regarded as ignorant or uneducated. When used by Black people, cracker can refer to a Southern white racist, not necessarily poor or rural. See also Cracker State.