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• corn pone
  corn pone

  noun

  cornbread, especially of a plain or simple kind.
• corn-pone
  corn-pone

  adjective

  of or characteristic of an unsophisticated rural person, especially from the South.

corn pone

¹ American  

[kawrn pohn] / ˈkɔrn ˌpoʊn /

noun

Southern U.S.

1. cornbread, especially of a plain or simple kind.

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corn-pone ² American  

[kawrn-pohn] / ˈkɔrnˌpoʊn /

adjective

1. of or characteristic of an unsophisticated rural person, especially from the South.

   a corn-pone accent.

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corn pone British  

noun

1. Sometimes shortened to: pone.  corn bread, esp a plain type made with water

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Etymology

Origin of corn pone¹

An Americanism dating back to 1855–60; see origin at pone ¹ ( def. )

Origin of corn-pone²

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

corn pone corn-pone

Meanwhile, a 1928 New York Times article used the phrase to describe the homemaking abilities of First Lady Lou Henry Hoover: "as American as apple pie or corn pone."

From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2021

But the movie mostly plays so strained and corn pone that it undermines its sincere emotional core and good intentions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2015

We wanted to dip into the unapologetic mix of corn pone, roller coasters and celebrity that is Ms. Parton’s very lucrative Appalachian Southern fantasy.

From New York Times ● Aug. 22, 2014

Coming from a more immodest person, that might sound like pure Midwestern corn pone.

From New York Times ● Oct. 5, 2012

Like as not, all else her folks would have was fried fatback, cream gravy, and corn pone.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns

“A man-about-town, obviously, very, very erudite, or however they say that in Oxford. But he says, in his corn-pone, made-up accent, that, ‘Yeah, we closed down, people still died’,” Scarborough said.

From Fox News ● Apr. 16, 2020

That day, he played Slim Whitman — a country artist not afraid to seem corn-pone — yodeling “It’s a Small World.”

From New York Times ● Jul. 4, 2013

Mr. Friedkin, a director with a talent for kinetic screen violence, never finds his groove with “Killer Joe,” which lurches from realism to corn-pone absurdism and exploitation-cinema surrealism.

From New York Times ● Jul. 26, 2012

Their too famous voices distract from the subject matter; nor do they bring any particular eloquence to their tasks, least of all Jason Robards, who overdoes the corn-pone twang as the most uncharismatic Lincoln imaginable.

From Time Magazine Archive

Through the open door I could see the unfinished supper, the sweet corn-pone cut like a great cheese, the striped bacon, and the blue stone milk pitcher with its broken ears.

From Dwellers in the Hills by Post, Melville Davisson