cracker-barrel

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crack·er-bar·rel

(krăk′ər-băr′əl)

adj.

Resembling or characteristic of the extended informal discussions carried on by persons habitually assembled at a country store: cracker-barrel philosophy.

[After the cracker barrels that people supposedly would gather around for conversation in old-time general stores.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

cracker-barrel

adj

US rural; rustic; homespun: a cracker-barrel philosopher.

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

crack′er-bar`rel

adj.

suggesting the rustic informality of a country store: cracker-barrel philosophers.

[1875–80, Amer.]

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Adj.

cracker-barrel - characteristic of country life; "cracker-barrel philosophy"; "folksy humor"; "the air of homespun country boys"

folksy, homespun

rural - living in or characteristic of farming or country life; "rural people"; "large rural households"; "unpaved rural roads"; "an economy that is basically rural"

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References in periodicals archive ?

That Peter Pan, the Alice books, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz contain veiled elements of sexual awakening will surprise nobody remotely acquainted with the cracker-barrel Freudianism that has informed popular views of these books for decades.

Alan Moore comes like a thief in the night: a writer with a libertarian following delivers some flaccid porn

But there was a strong musical tradition in the family, and the young Martin was soon familiar with the works of Bill Monroe, a legendary figure claimed by some to have been the father of the bluegrass style, in which the mandolin, fiddle and highpitched yodelling were added to the songs of death, unrequited love and the usual cracker-barrel sentiments emerging from dirt poverty.

Obituary: James Martin

With all its creaks and cracker-barrel philosophy, On Golden Pond still makes an excellent evening out and a large house at Wolverhampton was not disappointed.