Johnny Reb

[reb]

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.

Johnny Reb

noun

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of Johnny Reb¹

An Americanism dating back to 1860–65

Word History and Origins

Origin of Johnny Reb¹

C19: from _rebel (n)

Example Sentences

“It’s really about the nostalgia for me,” Thiessen says about Johnny Rebs.

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In 2015, he got involved in a successful effort to change the “Johnny Reb” mascot at his old high school.

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One memorial known as “At Ready” or “Johnny Reb,” which last year was removed from its perch outside the Albemarle County Courthouse in Charlottesville, was handed over to a historical foundation in Shenandoah County.

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Within a few years, a Confederate monument nicknamed “Johnny Reb” went up at that same courthouse, along with some old Confederate cannons.

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

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