backwood

backwood

English

Etymology

back +‎ wood; compare backwater

Adjective

backwood (not comparable)

1. Native to or located in a remote rural location.
   • 1885, G. A. Henty, True to the Old Flag, chapter 1 — A Frontier Farm:

     The house itself, although far more spacious and comfortable than the majority of backwood farmhouses, was built in the usual fashion, of solid logs, and was evidently designed to resist attack.

   • 2000, Helen Gibson, "Another Archer Mystery", Time, April 17:

     Despite the court victory, Archer resigned as deputy chairman and rehabilitated himself by working as a party stalwart in backwood constituencies.

2. Rustic, unsophisticated, countrified.
   • 1859, Washington Irving, chapter 4, in Life of George Washington:

     Here, after supper, most of the company stretched themselves in backwood style, before the fire; but Washington was shown into a bedroom.

   • 1889, Bret Harte, chapter 10, in Cressy:

     "That's what you mean, dandy boy — for you're only a dandy boy, you know, and they don't get married to backwood Southern girls."

Related terms

• backwoods