Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) pertaining to North Carolina or the state’s culture.

1862		in R.G. Carter Four Brothers in Blue (1978) 14 Sept. 106: Our Colonel, drawled out in the usual ‘Tar-heel’ vernacular.
1888		Nye & Riley Railway Guide 112: The Tar-heel Cow [story title].
1888		Daily Alto (CA) 2 Apr. 6/1: The ‘Tar Heel State’, old North Carolina.
1898		Sun. Inter Ocean (Chicago) 6 Mar. 33/3: Tar-Heel Temperance Tale from the Cape Fear Country.
1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice in Hamilton Men of the Und. 267: I’ll be the first man to beat the tar heel madhouse [i.e. Raleigh State Prison, N.C.].
1996		P. Beatty White Boy Shuffle 17: Franz von humbly reeled in the winnings from the [...] Tar Heel gentry.