Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US, also tackey, tacky) a stupid person, a rural farmer.

1836		in N.E. Eliason Tarheel Talk (1956) 298: I tell them I don’t know any better for I’m a mountain tackey sartin.
1899		F.E. Daniel Recollections of a Rebel Surgeon 218: The country is of course, very sparsely settled [...] mostly by the poorer classes, — ‘tackeys,’ ‘po’ white trash,’ the negroes call them.
1906		Int’l Gaz. (Black Rockj, NY) 29 Sept. 8/3: Bartz, Spitz, Tackhead, Woodenleg [...] all wearing skidoo hats.
1909		L.W. Payne Jr ‘Word-List From East Alabama’ in DN III:v 378: tacky, n. [...] 2. A shabby, uncultured person, a backwoodsman.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 51: tackhead. A pinhead, in effect.
1990		Orlando Sentinel (FL) Orange Sports 6 Dec. 1/1: Bonecrusher, Bulldog, Tackhead [...] the nicknames were status symbols.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1899		F.E. Daniel Recollections of a Rebel Surgeon 238: You fellers must be familiar with the ‘cracker’ or ‘tackey’ type of Southern people.
1972		J. Maryland ‘Shoe-shine on 63rd’ in Kochman Rappin’ and Stylin’ Out 212: These tack-head niggers are at ’em like a hound dog in Mississippi on nigger shit.

3. (US) an overdressed or excessively stylish person; also attrib.

1980		Eble Campus Sl. Spring 6: tackhead – person who dresses in pimp-like clothes (platforms, etc.) and thinks he is cool.
1988		G. Tate ‘Public Enemy’ in Flyboy in the Buttermilk (1992) 121: The Stardust crowd was flashing New York’s most stylish (and tackhead stylish) array of winter coats.

4. (US black, also tackyhead) an unattractive, unkempt woman [equating ill-kempt or unfashionable hair with an unappetizing person].

1968		J. Colebrook Cross of Lassitude 266: ‘You gotta be a Butch,’ Stan advises Frankie, ‘a stone Butch.’ ‘I’m no tackhead,’ Frankie evades. ‘You’re no Fem either,’ Stan compliments.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 144: Expressions like [...] tackhead, and tackyhead carry with them, among other things, the image of badly made goods.
2000		Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Tack Head: Someone’s woman.

5. (US (New York)) a hip-hop/rap fan.

1988

Province (Vancouver) 17 Feb. 45/1: In New York slang, a tackhead is a kid who consumes music — the beat-box stuff, hip hop, wild style.

6. (US) a troublemaker.

1992

D. Pinckney High Cotton (1993) 72: Experts in ‘muleology’ were forever approaching his table and saying to his guests that nice girls don’t drink with tackheads.