subs. (American).—A native of Indiana. [Perhaps the most reasonable of several ingenious explanations is, that in the early days the customary challenge or greeting in that region was, ‘Who’s yer?’ (who’s here?): pronounced hoosier.—NORTON.]
1843. D. CORCORAN, A Genuine Hoosier. An original character is your genuine HOOSIER. By genuine, we mean such a one as has all the attributes that peculiarly belong to the back-woodsmen of the West.
1847. J. M. FIELD, The Drama in Pokerville, p. 197. None of then ‘cotton’d’ to him more kindly than an elderly ‘HOOSIER,’ from the innermost depths of Indiana.
1848. DURIVAGE, Stray Subjects, p. 79. There is a swarm of ‘suckers,’ ‘HOOSIERS,’ ‘buckeyes,’ ‘corn-crackers,’ and ‘wolverines’ eternally on the qui vive, in those parts.
