Johnny Reb

American  

[reb] / rɛb /

noun

Informal.

1. U.S. History. a Confederate soldier.

2. a native or inhabitant of the southern U.S., especially of one of the former Confederate states; southerner.

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Johnny Reb British  

noun

1. informal (in the American Civil War) a Confederate soldier

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Etymology

Origin of Johnny Reb

An Americanism dating back to 1860–65

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Johnny Reb

Now, she said, with Johnny Reb tucked in the back of the graveyard’s Confederate Section, “nobody talks about it anymore.”

From Washington Post ● May 29, 2021

So Johnny Reb sits, in 13 pieces, in Boykin’s yard, 150 feet off the road, waiting for somebody to put him back together again.

From Washington Post ● May 29, 2021

I live not far from the Johnny Reb statue that was the subject of Courtland Milloy’s April 13 Metro column, “Why Johnny Reb belongs in a cemetery.”

From Washington Post ● Apr. 15, 2016

Cheer up, Johnny Reb: The SEC East went 5-0 in its bowls.

From Newsweek

I'm a good Johnny Reb myself, though I keep off the fightin' lines.

From The Star of Gettysburg A Story of Southern High Tide by Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)