Backwoods

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈbakËŒwÊŠdz/

Origin

From back + woods.

Full definition of backwoods

Noun

1. Partly or wholly uncleared forest, especially in North America.
2. A remote or sparsely inhabited region, especially in North America; away from big towns and from the influence of modern life.
• 1834, David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of, Nebraska 1987, p.22:about that time, you may...reckon, if like me you belong to the back-woods, that I began to make up my acquaintance with hard times, and a plenty of them.
• 1879, Richard Jefferies, The Amateur Poacher Chapter 1, As one sat on the sward behind the elm, with the back turned on the rick and nothing in front but the tall elms and the oaks in the other hedge, it was quite easy to fancy it the verge of the prairie with the backwoods close by.

Adjective

1. Pertaining to the backwoods.
2. Rough, uncouth, coarse, or crude in social matters.

Synonyms

• backwood

Derived terms

• backwoodsman