To prowl among bushes; hence, to pursue a guerilla warfare; to talk all round a subject.

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1813.  

        These bush-whacking Yankees won’t do
  For me to be dwelling among—
Dear love, to be living with you
  I could even consent to be hung.
Mass. Spy, Jan. 27.    

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1836.  I mounted the stump that had been cut down for the occasion, and began to bushwhack in the most approved style.—‘Col. Crockett in Texas,’ p. 17 (Phila.).

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1841.  Mr. Benton thanked the Senator—they should now have a fair contest, and no “bush-whacking.”—U.S. Senate, Jan. 8: Cong. Globe, p. 91.

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1845.  All Mr. Foster [of Tenn.] asked for was a clear field and a fair fight—no bush-whacking, if he might be indulged in an expressive word, well understood in the border wars of the West.—The same, Feb. 3: id., p. 152, App.

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