poor white, noun phrase and & adjectival phrase
- Forms:
- Also poor-white.
- Origin:
- U.S. EnglishShow more Originally U.S. English (early 19th century).
A. noun phrase Especially historical: a member of the most indigent section of the (Afrikaans-speaking) white population; see quotation 1922. Often in pl., used collectively. See also bywoner sense 1, igxagxa sense 1.
1896 R. Wallace Farming Indust. of Cape Col. 406The so called ‘poor whites’ are chiefly the descendants of French protestant refugees, and..of early Dutch settlers. The initial cause at work in reducing them to poverty, was the excessive subdivision of the land among the members of a family.
B. adjectival phrase Of or pertaining to poor whites.
1909 R.H. Brand Union of S. Afr. 28The growth of a poor white class which is too ignorant for any skilled trade and yet refuses to do ‘Kaffir work’ is an ominous sign.
1988 J. Sharp in Boonzaier & Sharp S. Afr. Keywords 85Nationalist insistence that the ‘poor white’ problem (the movement of impoverished Afrikaans-speakers from rural to urban areas) was caused solely by British depredations in the countryside during the war (implying that there were no earlier divisions amongst the volk itself).
a member of the most indigent section of the (Afrikaans-speaking) white population; see quotation 1922. Often in pl., used collectively.
Of or pertaining to poor whites.
- Derivatives:
- Hence poor whitedom noun phrase (rare), poor whiteism noun phrase, the phenomenon of extreme poverty among white people.1916 Rand Daily Mail 1 Nov. 4Facts and figures which were of service to every student of poor whiteism in this land.
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