cracker

[krak-er] /ˈkræk ər/
noun
1.
a thin, crisp biscuit.
2.
a firecracker.
3.
Also called cracker bonbon. a small paper roll used as a party favor, that usually contains candy, trinkets, etc., and that pops when pulled sharply at one or both ends.
4.
(initial capital letter) Slang: Sometimes Disparaging and Offensive. a native or inhabitant of Georgia or Florida (used as a nickname).
5.
Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a white person in the South, especially a poor white living in some rural parts of the southeastern U.S.
6.
snapper (def 5).
7.
braggart; boaster.
8.
a person or thing that cracks.
9.
a chemical reactor used for cracking.
Compare catalytic cracking, fractionator.
adjective
10.
crackers, Informal. wild; crazy:
They went crackers over the new styles.
Origin
1400-50; late Middle English craker. See crack, -er1; (defs 4-5) perhaps orig. in sense “braggart,” applied to frontiersmen of the southern American colonies in the 1760s, though subsequently given other interpretations (cf. corn-cracker); for crackers crazy, cf. cracked, -ers
Usage note
The term cracker is used as a neutral nickname by inhabitants of Georgia and Florida; it is a positive term of self-reference. But when the nickname is used by outsiders, it is usually with disparaging intent and perceived as insulting by Georgians and Floridians. Cracker is always disparaging and offensive when used to refer to a poor white person in the South; the word in this sense often implies that the person is regarded as ignorant or uneducated. When used by black people, cracker can refer to a Southern white racist, not necessarily poor or rural. See also Cracker State.
Examples from the web for crackers
  • The sad thing really is that people listen to these crackers.
  • They've been called rednecks, hillbillies and crackers.
  • There is no such thing as a six-way, although oyster crackers are the customary garnish.
  • Even couples whose heads are so white and puffy they should wear hats made out of graham crackers and chocolate.
  • The second movie was similar, but the people were given milk instead of crackers.
  • If crackers or other foods calm your stomach, pack extras in your purse.
  • In the evening they serve crackers and cheese with drinks available for purchase.
  • Choosing whole grain chips and crackers instead of the white, highly processed types.
  • IF you think of crackers as little bits of pie crust, or fast-cooking bread, you quickly comprehend why they're so easy to make.
  • Arrange the crackers side by side in a single layer on the foil.
British Dictionary definitions for crackers

crackers

/ˈkrækəz/
adjective
1.
(postpositive) (Brit) a slang word for insane

cracker

/ˈkrækə/
noun
1.
a decorated cardboard tube that emits a bang when pulled apart, releasing a toy, a joke, or a paper hat
2.
short for firecracker
3.
a thin crisp biscuit, usually unsweetened
4.
a person or thing that cracks
5.
(US) another word for (offensive) poor White
6.
(Brit, slang) a thing or person of notable qualities or abilities
7.
(Austral & NZ, informal) not worth a cracker, worthless; useless
Word Origin and History for crackers

cracker

n.

mid-15c., "hard wafer," but the specific application to a thin, crisp biscuit is 1739; agent noun from crack (v.). Cracker-barrel (adj.) "emblematic of down-home ways and views" is from 1877.

Southern U.S. derogatory term for "poor, white trash" (1766), probably from mid-15c. crack "to boast" (e.g. not what it's cracked up to be), originally a Scottish word. Cf. Latin crepare "to rattle, crack, creak," with a secondary figurative sense of "boast of, prattle, make ado about."

I should explain to your Lordship what is meant by crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless set of rascalls on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas and Georgia, who often change their places of abode. [1766, G. Cochrane]
But DARE compares corn-cracker "poor white farmer" (1835, U.S. Midwest colloquial). Especially of Georgians by 1808, though often extended to residents of northern Florida. Another name in mid-19c. use was sand-hiller "poor white in Georgia or South Carolina."
Not very essentially different is the condition of a class of people living in the pine-barrens nearest the coast [of South Carolina], as described to me by a rice-planter. They seldom have any meat, he said, except they steal hogs, which belong to the planters, or their negroes, and their chief diet is rice and milk. "They are small, gaunt, and cadaverous, and their skin is just the color of the sand-hills they live on. They are quite incapable of applying themselves steadily to any labor, and their habits are very much like those of the old Indians." [Frederick Law Olmsted, "A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States," 1856]

Slang definitions & phrases for crackers

crackers

adjective

Crazy; cracked •Chiefly British use: Also he was plain crackers

[1928+; formed with the British suffix -ers, like bonkers, preggers, etc]


cracker

noun

A Southern rustic or poor white; more particularly, a Georgian; redneck

Related Terms

jawbreaker, safecracker

[1766+; The dated sense refers to ''a lawless set of rascals on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia'' who were great crackers, ''boasters''; these would be nearly the original frontier ''tall talkers'' of the Davy Crockett ilk]