nigger in the woodpile
nigger in the woodpile noun: a hidden motive, influence or factor; a concealed (potential) snag; something suspicious.
Noun
nigger in the woodpile (plural niggers in the woodpile or niggers in woodpiles)
- 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
- (Bus traffic in the London area fell 33 per cent, although the total for public transport increased by 8 per cent; but private car journeys, the nigger in the public transport woodpile, went up 78 per cent in the decade).1964 September, “News: BR role in London traffic patterns”, in Modern Railways, page 200
Synonyms of nigger in the woodpile
Forms of nigger in the woodpile
| plural | niggers in the woodpile |
|---|---|
| plural | niggers in woodpiles |
| alternative form | nigger in the wood-pile |
| alternative form | nigger in the wood pile |
Origin of nigger in the woodpile
First attested in the 1840s.
Questions about nigger in the woodpile
- What does nigger in the woodpile mean?
- Nigger in the woodpile means a hidden motive, influence or factor; a concealed (potential) snag; something suspicious.
- What part of speech is nigger in the woodpile?
- Nigger in the woodpile is a noun.
- What is the plural of nigger in the woodpile?
- The plural of nigger in the woodpile is niggers in the woodpile.
Words near nigger in the woodpile in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: 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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “nigger in the woodpile.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nigger_in_the_woodpile. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.