whopstraw

English

Noun

whopstraw (plural whopstraws)

1. A rustic, a clod-hopper.
   • 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:

     Charles had not been employed at Darracott Place above six months, but he was not such a whopstraw as to make the least noise in the performance of his duties when his lordship was out of humour.

2. A thresher, one who separates the grain from the chaff by beating with a flail.
   • a. 1864, John Clare, edited by J. W. Tibble, Selected Poems, published 1965:

     Parker Clare became a flail-thresher, a whopstraw

References

1. Eric Partridge (1970) A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English […] , 7th edition, New York: Macmillan, page 956