Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) pertaining to the (working class) rural South.

1921		M.W. Howard Peggy Ware 289: I’ll give that little pecker-wood lawyer the durndest fight he ever had.
c.1930		(ref. to late 19C) N. Kimball Amer. Madam (1981) 199: Monte was dead [...] gunned down by some peckerwood constable.
1947		S. Lewis Kingsblood Royal (2001) 127: Suddenly we’re arrested by a big peckerwood cop.
1957		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 24 Aug. 13: Some unholy peckerwood White Citizens Council-ruled town Down Yonder.
1967		C. Cooper Jr Farm (1968) 40: There is an extraordinary number of peckerwood dope fiends who stare over at our black line.
1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 118: That old peckerwood land prop.
1988		D. Woodrell Muscle for the Wing 196: This is a peckerwood mob, but it is a mob.
1995		C. Hiaasen Stormy Weather 88: He couldn’t believe some peckerwood guardsman was shooting at him.
2000		C. Cook Robbers (2001) 206: He went through Kountze, little peckerwood sawnmill town, a few rundown stores and service stations and nigger shacks.
2012		C. Stella Rough Riders 47: These tea bagging, peckerwood motherfuckers.
2015		P. Beatty Sellout (2016) 177: Your dumb, peckerwood ass still ain’t decided whether you like men or not.
2021		S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 96: [They] had that peckerwood look all over them.