peckerwood

[ pek-er-woo d ]

/ ˈpɛk ərˌwʊd /

noun

Midland and Southern U.S. woodpecker.

Southern U.S. Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. poor white.

adjective

Southern U.S. small or insignificant: He makes a living farming and running a peckerwood sawmill.

Nearby words

pechora, peck, peck's bad boy, peck, gregory, pecker, peckerwood, pecking, pecking order, peckinpah, peckish, pecksniff

Origin of peckerwood

1825–35, Americanism; pecker + wood¹; inversion of woodpecker

Examples from the Web for peckerwood

Perhaps I didn't quite believe in the red-headed Peckerwood myself just then, and felt unable to incarnate him to Matthew.
The Golden Bird|Maria Thompson Daviess
Matthew lingered behind the others and helped me feed the old red ally and Mrs. Ewe and Peckerwood Pup.
The Golden Bird|Maria Thompson Daviess

Word Origin and History for peckerwood

peckerwood

1859, U.S. Southern black dialectal inversion of woodpecker; in folklore, taken as the type of white folks (1929) and symbolically contrasted with blackbird.