I. ˈbu̇(ə)r, ˈbu̇ə noun
( -s )
Etymology: Dutch boer peasant, farmer, short for Middle Dutch gheboer, ghebuur, from ghe- co- + -boer, buur dweller; akin to Old High German gi- co- and to Old English gebūr dweller, farmer, Old High German gibūro peasant, fellow countryman, Old English & Old High German būan to dwell — more at bower (dwelling)
1. : a small farmer : peasant , husbandman
2. : boer
3.
a. : a rustic or peasant typically rough, crude, insensitive, uncommunicative, or dull : yokel
a kind of heroic boor devoid of civilized graces and refinements — F.R.Leavis
b. : a rude, clumsy, insensitive, or boring individual
an ill-mannered boor
Synonyms:
churl , lout , clown , bumpkin , clodhopper , hick , yokel , rube : boor , orig. applicable to any small farmer, now strongly implies rudeness, insensitivity, or dullness; it is an antonym to gentleman
he that is rude to a pretty girl when she offers him wine is too great a boor to understand — Charles Kingsley
love makes gentlemen even of boors — Henry Adams
churl , orig. a rustic or villein, is now more likely to suggest ill-bred surly meanness in general than that associated with rural backgrounds
magic … that this divine sweet creature could be allied with that old churl — George Meredith
lout is applicable to any crude and hulking oaf, rural or urban
a stupid lout, seemingly a farmer's boy — Sir Walter Scott
clown , orig. a field worker, now suggests ill-bred clumsiness or gaucheness, perhaps laughable
any clown, ignorant of the usages of the house — T.B.Macaulay
bumpkin suggests an awkward, gauche, and naive rustic
awkward lads with shy red faces … poor bumpkins — James Hilton
clodhopper suggests a shambling heaviness and a cloddish lack of information or urbanity
clodhoppers gaping at the stores on Saturday night
hick is a less forceful term for an unsophisticated simple rustic
hicks in the hinterlands disliking city candidates
yokel and rube may suggest either rustic lack of polish or gullible obtuseness
like a listener in a country store to wondrous tales … his mouth was agape in yokel fashion — Stephen Crane
Many of these terms are interchangeable
not worthy to be a knight — a churl, a clown — Alfred Tennyson
he got off with scorn — he was a hick, a rube …, a rustic, a boor or a hillbilly — Bergen Evans
II.
Scotland
variant of bower