Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US, also hooshier) a native of Indiana.

1826		in Chicago Trib. 2 June 1949 20/3: The Indiana hoosiers that came out last fall is settled from 2 to 4 milds of us [DA].
1833		Eve. Star (N.Y.) 3 Oct. 2/2: The meaning of the word Hoosier, the name of Gov. Ray’s newspaper, in Indiana, is a corruption of Hussar; derived from the pronunciation of a person appointed to command a company of Hussars during the late war, enlisting them under the name of Hoosier – which is the common name applied to the people of Indiana.
1836		Public Ledger (Phila.) 14 Oct. n.p.: The Illinoisans are called Suckers, the inhabitants of Indiana Hooshiers, and those of Ohio Buckeyes.
1840		Cincinnati Chronicle 26 Aug. n.p.: People in the Atlantic States know as little about the high and beating heart of the Mississippi Valley, as we Buck-eyes, Corn-crackers, and Hooshiers do about Nova Zembla.
1847		J.M. Field Drama in Pokerville 197: None of them ‘cotton’d’ to him more kindly than an elderly ‘hoosier,’ from the innermost depths of Indiana.
1853		N.Y. Clipper 17 Sept. 4/5: [N]one of them ‘cotton’d’ to him more kindly than an elderly ‘hoosier,’ from the innermost depths of Indiana .
1861		R.F. Burton City of the Saints 165: A Hoosier (native of Indiana) was called upon the stand [etc.].
1875		M. Thompson Hoosier Mosaics 7: I was seeking a foreign appointment through the influence of my fellow Hoosier, the late Vice President of the United States.
1882		W.A. Baillie-Grohman Camps in the Rockies 60: The fellow was a Hoosier (native of Indiana).
1894		Herald (Los Angeles) 13 Feb. 3/2: [headline] Hard on the Hoosiers. Indiana Suffers Severely From the Effects of the Blizzard.
1902		Guthrie Daily Leader (OK) 17 May 3/1: [headline] Hoosiers to Meet. Indiana People in Oklahoma Prepare for Annual Talk.
1914		Breckinridge News (Cloverport, KY) 19 Aug. 6/2: [headline]Many Hoosiers Stranded. Indiana Tourists in Europe Cut off from Home Folks.
1920		Eve. Herald (Albuquerque, NM) 23 Apr. 4/5: [headline] Indiana Picnic — Hoosiers Attention!
1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 136: In Indiana that often means pro-gangster. The drab, amoebic Hoosiers are particularly susceptible to this national epidemic.
1961		M. Terry Old Liberty (1962) 166: He is a Hoosier.
1987		W.T. Vollmann You Bright and Risen Angels (1988) 337: ‘I’m from Cooverville, Indiana.’ [...] ‘Goddamn Hoosier’.
2001		(con. 1975–6) E. Little Steel Toes 77: I get the feeling these Indiana Hoosiers are both farmboys at heart.

2. (US, also hooshier, hosier, hoozier) a peasant, a rustic simpleton.

1846		D. Corcoran Picking from N.O. Picayune 46: An original character is your genuine hoosier. By genuine we mean one [...] whose manners have suffered neither change nor modification by connexion or association of men of more conventional habits, one who [...] has no other culture than that bestowed on him by nature.
1847		G.W. Harris ‘There’s Danger in Old Chairs!’ Weekly Nashville Union XIII Oct. in Inge (1967) 67: They were as nice a pair of spectacles – no specimens – of the genus Hoozier, as you could wish to look at.
1856		R.W. Emerson Eng. Traits 27: I found abundant points of resemblance between the Germans [...] and our ‘Hoosiers,’ ‘Suckers,’ and ‘Badgers,’ of the American woods.
1866		H.L. Williams N.-Y. After Dark 15: But where is he, or she, corncracker, hoosier, Egyptian, Johnny, Yank.
1885		Outing (NY) Nov. 152/2: Oh, say, papa. Did you notice that young Hoosier and his bride who sat opposite me at breakfast?
1899		B. Tarkington Gentleman from Indiana 125: I only wanted to say me and you certainly did fool these here Hoosiers this morning, huh?
1900		Flynt & Walton Powers That Prey 11: If my town’s tough it’s you hoosiers that come down here an’ turn yourselves loose an’ make it so.
1912		Ade Knocking the Neighbors 40: ‘A Frog is a Reptile,’ said the Hoosier.
1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 222: At daylight the next morning the hoosiers drag him out and he thinks they’re goin’ to lynch him.
1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 66: They were an infuriated gang of hooziers.
1933		‘Goat’ Laven Rough Stuff 72: He ripped out a .38 gun, and says ‘Get back all you bunch of hosiers,’ meaning farmers or simple scum.
1937		E. Anderson Thieves Like Us (1999) 47: Running about in these overalls like a damned Hoosier.
1940		W.E. Wilson Wabash 187: Dunn, the historian [...] says that ‘hoosier’ was a slang word once used in the South to denote a ‘jay’ or ‘hayseed’.
1953		T. Runyon In For Life 69: It takes the rank ‘hoosier’ [...] to ask foolish, personal questions.
1961		M. Braly Felony Tank (1962) 18: You didn’t let a hoosier off with a fair price.
1970		E. Thompson Garden of Sand (1981) 273: He personally viewed everyone out of prison as peapickers, hoosiers, hayseeds, or clodhoppers.
1987		(con. 1970s) J. Pistone Donnie Brasco (2006) 358: Tell Tony bring a tie and a shirt. Not dress like a fucking Hoosier from Pennsylvania.
1989		(con. 1930s) Courtwright & Des Jarlais Addicts Who Survived 100: Lucky used to sell to the hoosiers.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 158: The hollys were Hoosiers. The Hollys had Klan ties.

3. (US Und.) a gullible person.

1847		J.H. Green Arts and Miseries of Gambling 75: A gambler got to playing with a man whom he mistook for a green Hoosier, that knew nothing of playing scientifically.
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: Hoosier, the hold-up victim.
1952		C. Hamilton Men of the Und. 322: Hoosier, A credulous person.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 558: The American boy soldiers were flush and gullible, readily exploitable Hoosiers [...] a limitless trove of marks.

4. (US tramp) a ‘farmer’.

1899

J. Flynt Tramping with Tramps 153: Well, you old hoosier, you, can you gimme some apple-butter? [Ibid.] 394: Everybody who does not know the world as the hobo knows it is to him a ‘farmer,’ ‘hoosier,’ or outsider.

5. (US) an amateur, novice or incompetent.

1874		Long Wildfowl 144: ‘Greenhorns’ and hoosiers as the regular hunters call such fellows [...] always commence to cry, ‘Down! down! here comes a duck.’ [DAE].
1926		Amer. Mercury Jan. 64/2: The word hoosier is applied to anyone who is incompetent [DA].
1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl. 45: hoosier, n. A simple, loutish person who is not knowing in underworld ways and who is likely to be a rat; any person in disfavor with the speaker. This most common of underworld epithets has no reference to Indiana.
1949		W.R. Burnett Asphalt Jungle in Four Novels (1984) 203: Why plan at all? Why not just blunder about [...] like the rest of the chumps and hoosiers?
1952		W.R. Burnett Little Men, Big World 24: Parlays are for hoosiers.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 804: hoosier – An inefficient worker.

6. (US Und.) a local small-town police officer.

1914

Wash. Post 11 Nov. Miscellany 3/6: The ‘hoosier with bushes and a tin’ which is a running description of a ‘country bull’ or Constable.

7. (US prison) a prison visitor.

1931		G. Milburn ‘Convicts’ Jargon’ in AS VI:6 439: hoosier, n. An outsider; a prison visitor.
1936		Mencken Amer. Lang. (4th edn) 580: In virtually all American prisons [...] visiting day is the big day, a prison visitor is a hoosier.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).