WASHINGTON -- Democrats are calling on a Republican congressman from Georgia to apologize for referring to Barack and Michelle Obama as "uppity," but the lawmaker stood by his comments and said he meant no offense.

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Speaking to reporters Thursday, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Grantville, Ga., described the Obamas as members of an "elitist-class ... that thinks that they're uppity," according to The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper.

Asked to clarify whether he intended to use the word, he said, "Yeah, uppity."

The term historically has been used by some whites to deride black Americans as people who shouldn't strive to improve their lives.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas described his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate in 1991 as "a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks."

In a statement Friday, Westmoreland -- who was born in 1950 and raised in the segregated South -- said he didn't know that "uppity" was commonly used as a derogatory term for blacks seeking equal treatment.

The Random House Unabridged dictionary defines the term as describing someone affecting an attitude of inflated self-esteem, or someone who is haughty and snobbish.

Brian Robinson, Westmoreland's spokesman, said the congressman stood by the dictionary definition.

"He was unaware that the word had racial overtones and he had absolutely no intention of using a word that can be considered offensive,” Robinson said.

Westmoreland, who represents Georgia’s 3rd District, is one of the most conservative members of Congress. He has drawn criticism from civil rights advocates on a number of issues, including last year when he led opposition to renewing the 1965 Voting Rights Act. He also was one of two House members last year who opposed giving the Justice Department more money to crack unsolved civil rights killings.

The Obama campaign had no immediate response to Westmoreland’s comments. But the head of the Georgia Democratic Party called on Westmoreland to apologize, saying his comments were "more of the same, tired old politics that are dividing this country."