Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • proper noun U.S. A colloquial name for the Southern portion of the United States, esp. during the Civil War.
  • proper noun a song popular in the Confederate states during the American Civil War, and still played as a nostalgic anthem by those patriotic to the American south. It was written by Daniel D. Emmett in 1859.
  • proper noun to talk unrealistically; to engage in unrealistic or overoptimistic fantasies.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun informal, US The southern United States; the South.
  • proper noun informal, US The southwestern corner of Utah.
  • proper noun US A female given name transferred from the place name.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the southern states that seceded from the United States in 1861
  • noun a large metal pot (12 gallon camp kettle) for cooking; used in military camps

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Unknown for certain; may come from the Mason-Dixon line, the boundary between the northern states and the southern states or from the slang term dixie for a Louisiana $10 bill that had the French word dix printed on it.

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Examples

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  • According to Mark Twain, dix, French for ten, appeared on ten-dollar notes in New Orleans. The notes were called "Dixies" and thus the name was born....

    January 8, 2012