whistle Dixie
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Dix·ie 1
(dĭk′sē) A region of the southeast United States, usually comprising the states that joined the Confederacy during the Civil War. The term was popularized in the minstrel song "Dixie's Land," written by Daniel D. Emmett (1815-1904) in 1859.
Dix·ie 2
(dĭk′sē)n.
Idiom: Any one of several songs bearing this name, popular as Confederate war songs.
whistle Dixie Slang
To engage in unrealistically rosy fantasizing: "If you think mass transportation is going to replace the automobile I think you're whistling Dixie" (Henry Ford II).
[After Dixie1.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.