Word.ws English Dictionary

nigger in the wood-pile

nigger in the wood-pile is the alternative form of nigger in the woodpile.

Meaning of nigger in the woodpile

Noun

nigger in the woodpile (plural niggers in the woodpile or niggers in woodpiles)

  1. (dated, ethnic, offensive, slur) A hidden motive, influence or factor; a concealed (potential) snag; something suspicious.
    • Democra s^([sic]) placed no nigger in the woodpile—the imputation came with a bad grace from the gentleman from Kosciusko.1858 December 20, “The Huntington and Whitley Case”, in The Legislative Sentinel, volume I, number 14, page 137

Forms of nigger in the wood-pile

pluralniggers in the wood-pile
pluralniggers in wood-piles

Questions about nigger in the wood-pile

What is nigger in the wood-pile the alternative form of?
Nigger in the wood-pile is the alternative form of nigger in the woodpile.

Words near nigger in the wood-pile in the dictionary

  1. nigger heads
  2. nigger heaven
  3. nigger heavens
  4. nigger in the fence
  5. nigger in the wood pile
  6. nigger in the wood-pile
  7. nigger in the woodpile
  8. nigger killer
  9. nigger killers
  10. nigger knocker
  11. nigger knockers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nigger in the wood-pile (page history and authors); nigger in the woodpile (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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