bushwhacker U.S.
(ˈbʊʃˌhwækə(r))
[f. bush n.1 + whacker, one who ‘whacks’ or beats. (Cf. also Du. bosch-wachter, forest-keeper.)]
lit. One who whacks or beats bushes; hence,
1. One accustomed to beat about or make his way through bushes; a backwoodsman, a bush-ranger.
| 1809 W. Irving Knickerb. vi. v. (1849) 342 They were gallant bush-whackers and hunters of racoons by moon-light. |
2. Applied in the American Civil War to irregular combatants who took to the woods, and were variously regarded as patriot guerillas, or as bush-rangers and banditti; a bush-fighter.
| 1862 Macm. Mag. June 141 Of banditti, or bush-whackers..we say nothing. 1866 J. E. H. Skinner After Storm I. 240 Neither bushwhackers or slaves were seen in the streets. |
3. A scythe or other implement used to cut away brushwood.
| 1858 J. Dow Serm. I. (Bartlett) The victim soon destined to fall before the keen-edged bush-whacker of Time. 1870 Emerson Soc. & Solit. iv. 81 He is a graduate of the plough, and the stub-hoe, and the bushwhacker. |
4. One who clears the land of bush, esp. an axeman engaged in cutting timber. N.Z.
| 1898 J. Bell In Shadow of Bush iv. 18 Davie isn't qualified as a bush whacker yet. 1907 W. H. Koebel Return of Joe 257 The most skilful bush-whacker in the district. 1948 R. Finlayson Tidal Creek ii. v. 149 How nice after Uncle Ted's bushwhacker style to see a table with a crisp white cloth. |
Hence bushwhackerism.
| 1883 American VI. 356 The ‘border ruffianism’ and the ‘bushwhackerism’ which disgraced Missouri. |