peckerwood

[ pek-er-wood ]

noun

1. Midland and Southern U.S. woodpecker.
2. Southern U.S. Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. poor white.

adjective

1. Southern U.S. small or insignificant:

   He makes a living farming and running a peckerwood sawmill.

Word History and Origins

Origin of peckerwood¹

1825–35, Americanism; pecker + wood ¹; inversion of woodpecker

Example Sentences

And white supremacist groups like the Rise Above Movement are giving a new voice to the bigotry of the skinheads and peckerwood gangs that long haunted Huntington Beach, Anaheim and working-class parts of the county.

From Los Angeles Times

Plenty times, plenty times I have carried the welts given me by a two-tone peckerwood because I was late in the field row the next morning.

From Literature

Just making sure no peckerwoods round here start any illegal violence.’

From Literature

“Perry, did this peckerwood just call me boy ?” “I think you’d better leave him alone,” I said.

From Literature

He said I was quite brave, and that was my cue to reveal our confrontation with the peckerwood dentist and Momma’s incredible powers.

From Literature