peckerwood

peck·er·wood

P0140050 (pĕk′ər-wo͝od′)n. Chiefly Southern US 1. A woodpecker.2. Offensive Slang Used as a disparaging term for a poor white person.

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[Alteration (by transposition of the two members of the compound) of woodpecker.]

peckerwood

(ˈpɛkərˌwʊd) n1. (Animals) a woodpecker2. Black slang offensive a White person, esp one from the southern states of the United States

poor′ white′

n. usage: This term is usually used with disparaging intent and perceived as insulting. However, sometimes it is merely a neutral descriptive term.—n. Usually Disparaging and Offensive. (a term used to refer to a white person, esp. of the southern U.S., having low social status and little or no money, property, or education.) [1810–20, Amer.]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

peckerwood - bird with strong claws and a stiff tail adapted for climbing and a hard chisel-like bill for boring into wood for insectswoodpecker, peckerpiciform bird - any of numerous nonpasserine insectivorous climbing birds usually having strong bills for boring woodfamily Picidae, Picidae - woodpeckersgreen woodpecker, Picus viridis - woodpecker of Europe and western Asiadowny woodpecker - small North American woodpecker with black and white plumage and a small billflicker - North American woodpeckerCampephilus principalis, ivorybill, ivory-billed woodpecker - large black-and-white woodpecker of southern United States and Cuba having an ivory bill; nearly extinctMelanerpes erythrocephalus, redheaded woodpecker, redhead - black-and-white North American woodpecker having a red head and necksapsucker - small American woodpecker that feeds on sap from e.g. apple and maple treeswryneck - Old World woodpecker with a peculiar habit of twisting the neckpiculet - small woodpeckers of South America and Africa and East Indies having soft rounded tail feathers