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Glite Dictionary
hillbilly heroin

hillbilly heroin

9.9
A strong prescription pain medicine that people often abuse like illegal drugs
  • noun
  • /ˈhɪlˌbɪli ˈhɛroʊɪn/
  • NSFW
translation icon : opioides
  • Many people refer to oxycodone as hillbilly heroin.

Examples

  • The doctor warned about the dangers of abusing hillbilly heroin after seeing a rise in overdose cases.

  • Some communities have been devastated by the spread of hillbilly heroin addiction.

  • Authorities seized a shipment of hillbilly heroin disguised as prescription medication.

  • The misuse of hillbilly heroin has increased dramatically.

  • Some communities have been devastated by the spread of hillbilly heroin addiction.

  • The doctor warned about the dangers of abusing hillbilly heroin after seeing a rise in overdose cases.

  • Many people refer to hillbilly heroin as oxycodone.

Synonyms

oxy
vshillbilly heroin
  • NSFW
13 9.9

A strong prescription pain medicine often causing addiction

casts the same drug as slang emphasizing its abuse and danger

Surface Forms

hillbilly heroin singular
hillbilly heroins plural

Morphology

hillbilly + heroin

The parts 'hillbilly' (rural/derogatory person) and 'heroin' (a narcotic) give learners clues that this is a derogatory drug-related label, but the phrase is a slang/metaphorical comparison referring to prescription opioids like oxycodone rather than literal heroin. A B1 learner who knows the words may grasp the drug-related, derogatory sense but not reliably infer the specific referent, so the expression is only partially predictable.

Etymology

Hillbilly heroin is a slang name that mixes hillbilly (people from small country areas) and heroin to create a strong image of powerful prescription pills behaving like street heroin in those towns. That's why it is used to mean 'prescription opioids' that are often abused.