hayseed

hay +‎ seed

• /ˈheɪˌsid/ (GenAm)

hayseed (countable and uncountable, plural hayseeds)

1. (countable, uncountable) Seeds from grass that has become hay.
2. (countable, uncountable) Cruft from bits of hay that sticks to clothing, etc.
3. (countable) A rustic person; a yokel or bumpkin.

hayseed (comparative more hayseed, superlative most hayseed)

1. Characteristic of or befitting a hayseed (person); rustic, uncultivated, backwater.
   • 1892, John Hay, Letters of John Hay and Extracts From Diary, volume II, published 1969, page 241:

     The Corporation of Western Reserve University, with entire unanimity and ombliferous enthusiasm, made you to-day an LL. D. It is no small shakes of a hayseed College, I would have you know.

   • 1988, Richard Sapir, Quest‎:

     And when he got his first demand, he shook his head and put a pained expression on his face, and in his most hayseed manner allowed as how things were kind of different now.