Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US black) a derog. term for a white person.

1977		(con. 1960s) D. Goines Black Gangster (1991) 60: I’m keepin’ them ’woods so far in the dark.
1997		E. Little Another Day in Paradise 78: The local woods weren’t gonna bust a grape, ’cause I was a Jew.
2002		J. Lerner You Got Nothing Coming 16: ‘Hey, but it’s all good — it’s all good in the hood, wood!’ At the mention of ‘wood,’ the white boys tense up [...] Will this wood (short for ‘peckerwood’?) insult go unpunished?
2019		D. Winslow Border [ebook] ‘“A lop just checked in [...] a wood in the office pulled his card—turns out he’s a chester’.

2. (US prison) a term of address between white males.

2001

(con. 1975–6) E. Little Steel Toes 31: Look pretty like a motherfucker, but ya hit like a little girl. What’s up wi’ that, wood?