nigger killer

English

Alternative forms

• nigger-killer

Etymology

From nigger +‎ killer.

Noun

nigger killer (countable and uncountable, plural nigger killers)

1. (offensive, archaic) A kind of sweet potato.

   Synonyms: African red, black Spanish, negro choker, nigger choker, Orleans red

   • 1907, L. H. Bailey, The Horticulturalist’s Rule-Book: A Compendium of Useful Information for Fruit-Growers, Truck-Gardeners, Florists, and Others, new and revised edition, New York: The Macmillan Company, page 176:

     Next in keeping quality come the Hayti Yam, the Red-skinned, Brimstone, Nigger Killer; and the last of the potato section is the Nansemond.

   • 1914, Florida. Dept. of Agriculture, Florida Quarterly Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture, page 64:

     Among the best known in this class are the "white” and the “purple” West Indian Yam, “ Brazilian Yam,” “Nigger Killer," "Hayti,” “Spanish,” “San Domingo,” “Davis Enormous” and a number of others.

   • 1921, T. E. Hand, K. L. Cockerham, The Sweet Potato: A Handbook for the Practical Grower, New York: The Macmillan Company, page 132:

     The roots [of the Shanghai] resemble those of the Nigger Killer in shape, growing very long and cylindrical, but in color they are almost white.

   • 1922, Bulletin 1021, U.S. Department of Agriculture: American Varieties of Sweet Potatoes, page 22:

     Nigger Killer ( probably same as NIGGER CHOKER) .

   • [1941, Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves, Washington, page 6:

     Dey was fine 'taters, red on de outside and pretty and white on de inside, but white folks called 'em 'nigger-killers.' Dat was one of deir tricks to keep us from stealin' dem 'taters.]

   • 1941, John M. Scott, Root Crops Grown in Florida, page 43:

     As to color, the roots are salmon with a rich yellow flesh. When cooked it is sweet and juicy. The leaves are long and irregular, with prominent yellow veins. The Nigger Killer, “Pattysaw” and Red Buck are of little importance from any standpoint.

2. (offensive, archaic, uncountable) Inferior rum.
   • 1897, The Nineteenth Century - Volume 42, page 775:

     This is in fact the poisonous stuff called 'nigger-killer' which I have already spoken of.

   • 1898, Demetrius C. Boulger, The Congo State, or The Growth of Civilisation in Central Africa, London: W. Thacker & Co.:

     As a matter of fact, the Congo State, from the first period of its exitsence as the Congo Association, has consistently set its face against the spirit traffic, and it is due to the measures of the King of the Belgians, and to his imperative injunctions, that the illicit importation of spirits has failed to pierce the western barrier raised by his wisdom and energy in Central Africa. If the Governments of Germany and France had acted in the same manner, the “nigger-killer” would never have been known throughout the vast portion of the Dark Continent.

   • 1913, The Missionary Review of the World - Volume 26; Volume 36, page 522:

     There are the Portuguese, with their rum or “nigger-killer," with their fort, administering unjust justice.

   • 1919, M. van Hoesen, “The Reform of the Congo Horror: Annexation of the Congo Free State to Belgium, A.D. 1908”, in The Great Events by Famous Historians, volume XX, page 337:

     all Governments have to derive the support necessary for their existence from taxation. In the Congo State the chief resource up to the present has been rubber. In British Colonies in Africa it is alcohol, more definitely the coarse raw spirit known as “nigger-killer.”

   • [1931, D. Crawford, Thinking Black: 22 Years Without a Break in the Long Grass of Central Africa, 2nd edition, New York: George H. Doran Company, page 41:

     Not content with their thriving export slavery, the Portuguese resolved to make sure of this bad business by forging a second slave-chain of rum, vulgarly called “nigger killer.”]

3. (contains an ethnic slur) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see nigger,‎ killer (a killer of black people).
   • 1855, Francis Colburn Adams, Our World: Or, the Slaveholder’s Daughter, New York: Miller, Orton & Mulligan, page 388:

     “Nigger killer!” ejaculates M‘Fadden, “let go there!”

   • [1862, Frederick Law Olmsted, The Cotton Kingdom: A Traveller’s Observations on Cotton and Slavery in the American Slave States, 2nd edition, volume 1, New York: Mason Brothers, page 102:

     If a man does not provide well for his slaves, it soon becomes known; he gets the name of a “nigger killer,” and loses the respect of the community.]

   • 1932, Robert Simpson, “So-So Krooboy Palaver”, in Adventure, volume 84, number 6, page 18:

     But he had never seen the Bola before, had never heard of her, and therefore was not aware that her skipper, Captain Rackwell, was known from Conakry to Old Calabar as the Nigger Killer.

   • 1985, Bessie W. Jones, Audrey L. Vinson, The World of Toni Morrison: Explorations in Literary Criticism, page 96:

     There are no innocent white people, because every one of them is a potential nigger-killer, if not an actual one.