CRACKER Definition & Meaning

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cracker

[krak-er]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a thin, crisp biscuit.
a firecracker.
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.
(initial capital letter)��a native or inhabitant of Georgia or Florida (used as a nickname).
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.
Slang.��black hat.
snapper.
braggart; boaster.
a person or thing that cracks.
a chemical reactor used for cracking.

adjective

Informal.��crackers, wild; crazy.
They went crackers over the new styles.

cracker

/ ˈ��æ��ə /

noun

a decorated cardboard tube that emits a bang when pulled apart, releasing a toy, a joke, or a paper hat
short for firecracker
a thin crisp biscuit, usually unsweetened
a person or thing that cracks
offensive��another word for poor White
slang��a thing or person of notable qualities or abilities
informal��worthless; useless

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Sensitive 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.

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of cracker¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English craker; crack, -er ¹; cracker defs. 4, 5 were perhaps originally in sense “braggart,” applied to frontiersmen of the southern American colonies in the 1760s, though subsequently given other interpretations ( corn-cracker ); cracker for def. 11 crackers “crazy,” cracked, -ers

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

“They were only given Lays Chips and animal crackers and milk for two days before being transferred” to a family detention center in Texas, she said.

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“What is a cookie,” she quipped, “if not a sweet cracker?”

From

Meanwhile, younger farmers have been choosing to produce different types of rice that are used for sake, rice crackers or fed to livestock because demand for rice in Japan had been falling until last year.

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"Whoever was doing the packaging had stuck a nylon bag over one end, another nylon bag over another end, and then used Sellotape to kind of make some sort of Christmas cracker."

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I got some good crackers, some goat cheese wrapped in tea leaves.

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Related 51�Թ�s

biscuit��
cookie��
pretzel��

cracked wheat cracker-barrel

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