| 释义 |
▪ I. green, a. and n.|griːn|
Forms: 1 grœ́ni, gréne, 2–7 grene, 4–6 grenn(e, greyn(e, 4–7 greene, gren, 6 greane, grein(e, gryne, 7 grien, 5– green.
[OE. gréne = OFris. grêne, OS. grôni (MDu. grone, Du. groen), OHG. gruoni, kruoni (MHG. grüene, G. grün), ON. grœnn (Da. grøn Sw. grön):— OTeut. *grônjo-, f. OTeut. root *grô-, whence grow v. Cf. grass.]
A. adj.
I. With reference to colour.
1. The adjective denoting the colour which in the spectrum is intermediate between blue and yellow; in nature chiefly conspicuous as the colour of growing herbage and leaves.
a. Said of foliage, grass, and the like.
a700Epinal Gloss. 298 Carpassini, gresgro[e]ni. c1000Sax. Leechd. I. 72 Wið earena sar ᵹenim þære ylcan wyrte leaf þonne heo grenost beo. c1250Gen. & Ex. 2775 Ðo saȝ moyses, at munt synay..fier brennen on ðe grene leaf. a1300Cursor M. 1256 Þat gresse..euer has siþen ben gren. 1390Gower Conf. II. 188 Like to the tree with leves grene, Upon the which no fruit is sene. 1590Spenser F.Q. iii. v. 40 A dainty place..Planted with mirtle trees and laurells greene. 1610Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 52 How lush and lusty the grasse looks? How greene? 1727Philip Quarll (1816) 11 Grass, which, though as dry as..hay, was as green as a leek. 1838T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 919 Many kilns have two floors, on the uppermost of which the greener hops are laid. Ibid. 976 The green colouring matter of plants. 1843James Forest Days ii, It will make your wheat look ten times greener. 1870Morris Earthly Par. II. iii. 2 Green grows the grass upon the dewy slope.
b. Said of the sea (properly, of the sea near the shore), and hence of Neptune.
a1500Chaucer's Dreme 1267 Sailing..Over the waves high and greene. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. xiv. 58, I, that with my Sword, Quarter'd the World, and o're greene Neptunes backe With Ships, made Cities. 1611― Wint. T. iv. iv. 28 The greene Neptune. 1667Milton P.L. vii. 402 Fish that..Glide under the green Wave. 1850J. Wilson Let. in Mem. vii. (1859) 258 The deep green sea is at your feet. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Green Sea, a large body of water shipped on a vessel's deck; it derives its name from the green colour of a sheet of water between the eye and the light when its mass is too large to be broken up into spray.
c. Of other things.
c725Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) A 957 Aurocalcum, groeni aar. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 163 Hire winpel is wit..and hire mentel grene oðer burnet. a1300Cursor M. 9983 Þe roche..þat painted es wit grene heu. c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 174 Þe sailes..some were blak & blo, Som were rede & grene. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. xix. (1495) 875 Hunters clothe themself in grene for the beest louyth kyndely grene colours. c1420Liber Cocorum (1862) 37 Bothe grene and rede thow may hit make, With iuse of herbz. 1463Bury Wills (Camden) 16 A bagge of grene silk. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxxvii. 37 The emerant greyne. 1677A. Horneck Gt. Law Consid. vii. (1704) 340 He that looks on a green glass, fancies all things he looks upon to be green. 1687A. Lovell Thevenot's Trav. i. 6 The whiteness of the Earth..makes many Commanders and Knights to wear green Spectacles. 1727Philip Quarll (1816) 26 Trees where the greener sort of monkies harbour. 1768–74Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) II. 451 The gifted priestess among the Quakers is known by her green apron. 1805Med. Jrnl. XIV. 237 Pain in his head, attended with vomiting, and purging, of a green and bilious matter. 1828Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. I. 250 Wing-coverts green, with red margins. 1839Ure Dict. Arts, Green Dye is produced by the mixture of a blue and yellow dye, the blue being first applied. 1879G. C. Harlan Eyesight v. 63 A green light at night marks the ‘starboard’ or right-hand side of a vessel.
d. The particular shade is expressed by words prefixed, as light green, dark green; almond-green, apple-green, bottle-green, bronze-green, emerald-green, lettuce-green, olive-green, etc.; also grass-green, sea-green. See also B.
1648–60Hexham Dutch Dict., Appel-groen, Apple-greene. 1727–46Thomson Summer 11 The dark-green grass. 1868Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 79 A most beautiful metallic golden-green colour. 1887Lady 20 Jan. 38/3 Pink satin bags, tied with bow and ends of bronze-green satin ribbon. 1899Daily News 2 Sept. 7/2 A lining of lettuce-green batiste. Ibid. 16 Sept. 7/2 A beautiful dress is in almond-green cloth.
e. Forming compound adjs. with the names of other colours, as green-and-gold.
1831J. H. Newman Lett. (1891) I. 242 A beetle I picked up at Torquay was as green and gold as the stone it lay upon. 1882H. De Windt Equator 100 The Brookeana, a beautifully-marked green-and-black butterfly.
f. Applied to meat that is putrid from long keeping, with reference to the green surface tint which it acquires.
1863Morning Star 1 Jan. 5, I know men..who would not touch a hare unless it was regularly ‘green’ before cooking.
†g. green gown. In phr. to give a woman a green gown: to roll her, in sport, on the grass so that her dress is stained with green; hence euphemistically (cf. quot. 1825–80). Obs.
a1586Sidney Arcadia i. (1598) 84 Then some greene gownes are by the lasses worne In chastest plaies, till home they walke arowe. 1599Greene Geo. a Greene Wks. (Grosart) XIV. 140 Madge pointed to meete me in your wheate-close..And first I saluted her with a greene gowne, and after fell as hard a-wooing as if the Priest had bin at our backs, to haue married vs. 1602Munday Pal. Eng. ii. v. (1639) D, At length he was so bold as to giue her a greene gowne when I feare me she lost the flower of her chastity. 1648Herrick Hesper., ‘Corinna's going a Maying’ (1869) I. 71 Many a green-gown has been given. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Green gown, a throwing of young Lasses on the Grass and Kissing them. 1714A. Smith Lives Highwaym. I. 281 Our Gallant being dispos'd to give his Lady a Green Gown, she deny'd his Civility. 1764Low Life (ed. 3) 73 Servants..meeting their acquaintance according to Appointment in the Fields, and giving and taking Green Gowns from each other. 1825–80Jamieson, Green Gown, the supposed badge of the loss of virginity, Roxb.
h. Phr. to see anything green in (one's) eye: to detect any signs of gullibility. Cf. sense 8 d. (Now more usually as in B. 2 c.) vulgar.
1851Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 41 I'm not a tailor, but I understands about clothes, and I believe that no person ever saw anything green in my eye. 1863Reade Hard Cash xxiv, Do—you—see—anything—green—in this here eye?
i. Used of lights and signals on the road, railway, etc., to indicate that the traffic is free to proceed (see also quot. 1970). Hence fig. phr. (to give) the green light, (to give) permission to proceed on a course of action; also green-light as v. trans. Cf. green n. 7 e.
1883Encycl. Brit. XX. 238 Railway Signals... At night the place of semaphores or disks is supplied by large and powerful lamps with reflectors... In general practice, two lights..are shown,—red and green. 1937T. Rattigan French without Tears iii. i. 126 We had a bottle of wine and got pretty gay, and all the time she was giving me the old green light. 1954Wodehouse Jeeves & Feudal Spirit xxii. 216 Carry on, old sport. You have the green light. 1968Highway Code 44 Traffic light signals... Green means you may go on if the way is clear... Green arrow means that you may go in the direction shown by the arrow. 1968F. Mullally Munich Involvement ii. 15 ‘Anything else I can do for you?’ Her smile green-lighted the innuendo. 1968Times 19 Feb. 3/7 The Greek revolutionary rulers have warned King Constantine not to attempt to return to his throne until the Papadopoulos Government gives him the green light. 1968Guardian 11 Apr. 1/2 A more selective system of Customs questioning of passengers..is provided for in the finance bill published yesterday... Those who have anything to declare will go through a ‘red’ channel... Those who have nothing to declare will pass through a ‘green’ channel. 1968Listener 27 June 837/2 But Professor Barnard decided to take a chance and have a go—and as so often happens, his example triggered off attempts by a whole host of imitators who had been impatiently waiting for the green light. It now seems sadly obvious that the light was not green. 1970Daily Tel. 16 Dec. 3/2 He calmly drove through the ‘green’ channel, indicating he had nothing to declare.
j. Used to denote the colour of absinthe, esp. in green peril; also ellipt.
1889E. Dowson Let. 18 Feb. (1967) 36, I have not felt myself since my generous allowance of the potent green on Thursday & was right ‘orf’ the fascinating fluid yesterday. 1905Westm. Gaz. 4 May 12/1 Some statistics.. of the growth of the absinthe habit in France seem to justify the alarmists who speak of the beverage as ‘the green peril’. 1908Daily Chron. 21 May 1/5 This taxing of the ‘green peril’ will no doubt be popular.
k. Phr. to have green fingers (or a green thumb), to be unusually successful in making plants grow; also transf.; hence green-fingered adj.
1934R. Arkell (title) Green fingers. 1943R. Carson Bride saw Red xvii. 203 Plants don't grow for me, but my wife's got a green thumb. 1943S. Cloete Congo Song xvi. 150 Some men have green fingers. Plants like them. They can make things grow because they love them. 1946Nature 28 Dec. 941/2 The arts of budding and grafting can only be fully acquired by observing the green-fingered dexterity of the experienced propagator. 1949Eng. Studies i. 2 Yet we are such born meddlers, and so convinced..that we have ‘green fingers’ of the spirit to give help and guidance in these difficult years. 1962R. Page Educ. Gardener 16 To have ‘green fingers’ or a ‘green thumb’ is an old expression which describes the art of communicating the subtle energies of love to prosper a living plant. 1962Listener 19 July 89/1 Every kind of briar, of bush rose, of rare bulb, and flowering tree flourished under her green thumb. 1963[see agin prep.]. 1966Lancet 31 Dec. 1461/2 Trees like this..would soon be produced by hybridisation and plant-hormones under the green-fingered genius of him and his helpers. 1969Daily Tel. 26 Apr. 6/6 ‘Success with money is often accidental,’ she sighed. ‘One needs ‘green fingers’ to make it grow.’
2. a. Covered with a growth of herbage or foliage; verdant; (of trees) in leaf. green acres (see quot. 1831). the Green Island, Green Erin: Ireland. green field(s): used attrib. to denote building away from existing developments.
847Charter in O.E. Texts 434 On grenan pytt. 1045Charter of Eadweard in Kemble Cod. Dipl. IV. 98 Andlang ðæs wuduweᵹes on ðone grene pað. c1325Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 159 Vert choral, a grene balke. c1386Chaucer Friar's T. 86 Wher rydestow under this grene shawe? c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) viii. 28 Þat gardyne es all way grene. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 6624 He kepid bestys on pasture grene. a1533Ld. Berners Huon xlvii. 157 The erthe was so fayre and grene. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 648 These Trees are alway greene: some have leaves twice a yeare. 1648Gage West Ind. xiv. 90 Harboured in a green plot of ground resembling a meadow. 1665G. Havers P. della Valle's Trav. E. Ind. 89 The very walls of the Gardens are all green with moss. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 626 Yon flourie Arbors, yonder Allies green. 1700Dryden Flower & L. 132 On the green bank I sat, and listened long. 1725Pope Odyss. xx. 356 Who..urged for title to a consort queen, Unnumbered acres, arable and green. 1784Cowper Task i. 222 Perch'd upon the green-hill top. 1831Loudon Encycl. Agric. (ed. 2) 1206 The Marquis of Hertford..has 64,000 green acres; that is, land capable of tillage, and independently of bog and mountain. 1841Lane Arab. Nts. I. 102 Having in his hand a branch of a green tree. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xvi. 118 We were soon upon the green alp. 1962Economist 24 Mar. 1150/1 Continental shipyards..had the advantage of being rebuilt de novo, often on ‘green field’ sites, after wartime destruction. 1968Times 9 Nov. 2/3 It would not be a ‘green fields’ new town but an addition to an existing development, or in an open space.
transf.c1645Howell Lett. (1650) II. The Vote, Sound sleeps, green dreams. 1847Emerson Poems (1857) 60 Thou..The green silence dost displace With thy mellow, breezy bass.
b. green road: a permanent farm-road giving access to fields, etc.; an untarred road (see also quot. 1938). green way, † green gate: a way well covered with verdure; hence fig. the pleasant path, the ‘broad way’. (Cf. primrose path.)
In the earlier versions of the Moral Ode there appears to have been confusion between the riming words.
a1200Moral Ode 339 in Lamb. Hom. 179 Læte we þe brode stret and þe wei bene..Go we þene narewe wei and þene wei grene. c1275Ibid. 335 in O.E. Misc. 70 Lete we þeo brode stret and þene wey grene..Go we þene narewe wey þene wey so schene. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 6/179 Ȝwane þou comest to þe heued of þis valeie a grene wei þov schalt wiende, Þat gez euene riȝt puyr est and to parays gez þat on ende. c1325in Kennett Par. Antiq. (1818) I. 578 Seynt Edburges grene wey. c1540Pilgr. T. 13 in Thynne's Animadv. (1865) App. i. 77 The gren gat I had more delit to folow then of deuotion to seke the halowe. a1674Milton Sonn. ix. 2 Lady, that in the prime of earliest youth Wisely hast shunned the broad way and the green. 1895E. Angl. Gloss., Green Way, a road over turf between hedges, usually without gates. 1900Eng. Dial. Dict., Green-road. 1938Oxoniensia III. 9 These limits embrace all the country between..the Northamptonshire forest-land on the one hand, and, on the other, all the land immediately visible or accessible from the ‘green road’ leading from the eastern counties to the Wiltshire Downs. 1943N. & Q. CLXXV. 203 Green-road. Farm-road to fields. Kent. 1968Guardian 11 July 3/6 The estate will..be broken into four units, each separated from the others by wide spaces, which the planners call ‘greenway lungs’. 1970Times 26 Aug. 10/3 A plan for turning two railway lines..into greenways for walkers, horseriders, and cyclists..has been sent to Somerset and Devon county councils.
c. Of a season of the year: Characterized by abundance of verdure; hence, of a winter or Christmas: Mild, temperate.
1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy i. v. (1513) B v, Whan that grene vere Ypassed were aye fro yere to yere And May was come the monthe of gladnesse. c1430Purif. Marie in Tundale's Vis. (1843) 135 The comyng of greene veer, with fresch buddes new. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. xix. 202 A green Christmas is neither handsome nor healthfull. 1721Kelly Sc. Prov. 30 A green yule makes a fat Church-yard. 1832Tennyson Early Sonn. ix, The pits Which some green Christmas crams with weary bones. 1898Daily News 5 Mar. 5/2 Good English poultry..with prices for the most part high. Owing to the green winter, however, they are not nearly so high as usual.
3. a. Of the complexion (often green and wan, green and pale): Having a pale, sickly, or bilious hue, indicative of fear, jealousy, ill-humour, or sickness. (Cf. Gr. χλωρός green, pale.) So the green eye, the eye of jealousy (cf. green-eyed a.). See also green sickness.
a1300Signs bef. Judgem. 63 in E.E.P. (1862) 9 Wel grene and wan sal be is [the sun's] liȝt and þat for dred so hit sal be. c1300Havelok 470 Al-so he wolde with hem leyke, þat weren for hunger grene and bleike. a1310in Wright Lyric P. 92 So muchel y thenke upon the that al y waxe grene. 1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. lxxxiii. [lxxx.] 251 The duke..waxed pale and grene as a lefe. 1605Shakes. Macb. i. vii. 37 Was the hope drunke, Wherein you drest your selfe? Hath it slept since? And wakes it now to looke so greene, and pale, At what it did so freely? a1650Eger & Grime in Furniv. Percy Folio I. 356 Now thou art both pale and greene. 1701Cibber Love Makes Man ii. ii, The wholsomest Food for green consumptive Minds. 1783–94Blake Songs Innoc., Nurse's Song 4 My face turns green and pale. a1845Hood Lamia v. 278 Sir Lycius now Must have the green eye set in his head. 1863Reade Hard Cash xliii, The doctor was turning almost green with jealousy. 1887Rider Haggard Jess xxxi, The Boers halted and consulted, except Jacobus, who went on, still looking very green.
b. green jaundice, a species of jaundice which imparts a green hue to the complexion.
1822–34Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 340 In green jaundice the patient rarely recovers. a1823M. Baillie Wks. (1825) I. 89 The green jaundice occurs more frequently at the middle and more advanced periods of life.
4. Consisting of green herbs, plants, or vegetables,
c1460J. Russell Bk. Nurture 97 Beware of saladis, grene metis, and of frutes rawe. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 59 From April unto June give them Grasse, and such green meat as may be found abroad. 1804W. Tennant Ind. Recreat. (ed. 2) II. 12 The grand desideratum of Indian husbandry, the want of green food for cattle. 1879F. T. Pollok Sport Brit. Burmah I. 234 To keep an elephant in health, his green food should be constantly changed.
5. a. When applied to fruits or plants, the designation of colour often implies some additional sense: (a) Unripe, immature; (b) young and tender; (c) full of vigorous life, flourishing; (d) retaining the natural moisture, not dried.
c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 216 Pintreowes þa grenan twigu. a1300Cursor M. 6044 Þat beist þan gneu vp al bidene þat þe thoner left, bath ripe and grene. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. vi. 300 Thanne pore folke for fere fedde Hunger ȝerne With grene poret and pesen. c1384Chaucer H. Fame iii. 134 Pipes made of grene corne. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 463 Grene resches a few he schare. c1450M.E. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 141 Take grene walnotes wyþ alle þe hulkes. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 108 b, Hurte the grene blade, & you shall haue no whete there. 1578Lyte Dodoens i. xviii. 28 Chamœpitys greene pound..and layde upon great woundes..cureth the same. 1620Venner Via Recta vii. 116 The greene and ripe Figs are hot and moyst in the first degree. 1657R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 80 There is alwaies some green, some ripe, some rotten grapes in the bunch. 1665Boyle Occas. Refl. (1848) 68 Green Fruit, though of a good Kind, will not easily be shaken down. [1667Milton P.L. xi. 435 The green Eare, and the yellow Sheaf.] 1700S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 174 They Boil [it] with a deal of green Pepper. 1853A. Soyer Pantroph. 119 Green walnuts were much esteemed; they were served at dessert. 1872Black Adv. Phaeton xx. 284 My dear, this is worse than eating green apples. 1884Public Opinion 3 Oct. 436/1 Beware of green fruit.
b. green corn (U.S.), the unripe and tender ears of maize, commonly cooked as a table vegetable.
1716B. Church Hist. Philip's War (1865) I. 170 This season'd his Cow-beaf so that with it and the dry'd green⁓corn..he made a very hearty Supper. 1817J. Bradbury Trav. Amer. 114 Sweet corn, is corn gathered before it is ripe, and dried in the sun: it is called by the Americans green corn, or corn in the milk. 1882Garden 25 Mar. 191/3 To go to America for a good..head of green Corn.
II. transf. and fig. Connoting qualities which in plants or fruits are indicated by green colour.
6. Full of vitality; not withered or worn out.
a. rarely of material things. † Of the bones (Sc.): Full of marrow; esp. in phr. to keep the bones green: to maintain good health. in the green tree (after Luke xxiii. 31, Gr. ἐν τῷ ὑγρῷ ξύλῳ, Vulg. in viridi ligno): under conditions not involving pressure or hardship.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Luke xxiii. 31 Forðon ᵹif in groene tree [Ags. Gosp. on grenum treowe: similarly in all later versions] ðas doað in dryᵹi huæd bið? a1300Cursor M. 16663 Quen suilk in grene tre es wroght, in dri sal mikel mare. 1513Douglas æneis i. x. 6 Within hir banis grene The hote fyir of luif to kendle. 1577Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 148 Their fresh and greene bodies. 1788E. Picken Poems (1813) II. 41 Tak a skair O' what may keep the banes just green. 1824Scott St. Ronan's x, Ye might..have gotten.. a Commissaryship..to keep the banes green. 1890W. E. Norris Adrian Vidal xiv, If this was done in the green tree, what would be done in the dry?
b. of immaterial things, esp. the memory of a person or event; also in green old age.
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 408 A curat shulde preche to þe puple treuþis of goddis lawe þat euere ben grene. 1390Gower Conf. I. 85 For ever it is a liche grene The great love which I have. 1513Douglas æneis i. ix. 54 Thi honour and thi fame sall euir be grene. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 549 The rancour wes so ruttit in thair hairt, And in thair mynd so recent and so grene, That [etc.]. 1579Fenton Guicciard. i. (1599) 6 The example is fresh and greene, that [etc.]. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. i. (1879) 100 The remembrance wherof is yet green in their heds. 1634T. Johnson tr. Parey's Chirurg. i. v. (1678) 5 Those we say, are beginning to grow Old, or in their green Old-age. 1666Bunyan Grace abounding §233 (1692) 108 Those Graces of God that now were green on me. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. xiv, His green old age seemed to be the result of health and benevolence. 1821Lamb Elia Ser. i. Old Benchers, He is yet in green and vigorous senility. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge lxiii, My heart is green enough to scorn and despise every man among you. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiv. III. 413 In youth his habits had been temperate; and his temperance had its proper reward, a singularly green and vigorous old age. 1888Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men II. vii. 121 Memorials, which will keep his memory fresh and green for many a long year. 1896A. Dobson 18th Cent. Vign. Ser. iii. i. 8 His still green recollections of that memorable night.
†7. Of tender age, youthful. Obs.
1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy i. v. (1555) C vi b, This is affyrmed of them that were ful sage And specially whyle they be grene [ed. 1513 reads tendre] of age. c1450Merlin 287 The children were tendre and grene. 1475Bk. Noblesse 44 Johan duc of Bedforde..in his grene age was lieutenaunt of the marchis. 1508Dunbar Gold. Targe 155 Syne tender Youth come wyth hir virgyns ying, Grene Innocence, and schamefull Abaising. 1563B. Googe Eglogs vi. (Arb.) 53 Eche thyng is easely made to obaye, whyle it is yong and grene. 1601Cornwallyes Ess. ii. xlviii. (1631) 304 The world in his greenest time lay in the arms of ignorance. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. 4 In that new world and greene age of the Church. 1664Marvell Corr. Wks. 1872–5 II. 181, I never yet saw a Prince..whose young mind did in his greenest years promise and threaten so much and so handsomely. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 263 While yet his Youth is flexible and green. 1742Young Nt. Th. v. 633 Tho' grey our Heads, our Thoughts and Aims are green. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) VIII. 128 A little time hence, the now-green head will be grey. 1808J. Barlow Columb. vii. 577 Green in years But ripe in glory. 1814Intrigues of a Day iii. iii, As the proverb says, a grey head is often placed on green shoulders. 1818Scott Rob Roy i, Your greener age and robust constitution promise longer life.
8. Unripe, immature, undeveloped. Often with mixture of sense 9; also with conscious allusion to the literal use in sense 5.
a. Of things, chiefly immaterial; Not fully developed, matured, or elaborated.
c1300Prov. Hendyng in Rel. Ant. I. 111 He wol speke wordes grene, Er þen hue buen rype. 1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 2707 Correcte a cause grene & newe. 1594Plat Jewell-ho. ii. 35 Vntill som better clarke confirme this greene conceipt. 1687Dryden Hind & P. iii. 855 To ripen green revenge your hopes attend. 1727De Foe Syst. Magic i. i. (1840) 2 At that time the knowledge of Nature was very green and young in the world. 1792Burke Corr. (1844) III. 394 The Regency,..when Price's sermon appeared, was still green and raw. 1860Reade Cloister & H. xxxviii. (1896) 110 Thy beard is ripe, thy fellow's is green; he shall be the younger. 1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. IV. lxix. 346 But these are green resolves.
b. Applied to young birds.
1660Fisher Rustick's Alarm Wks. (1679) 226 They run like a company of Green-guls with Shells on their Heads. 1884St. James's Gaz. 22 Aug. 4/2 Good sportsmen look upon the blackcock as not being sufficiently ripe for the gun at the date..the bird being green and tender.
c. Of persons, their powers or capacities: Immature, raw, untrained, inexperienced. So green hand (cf. hand 8). Also in sporting use, of animals: Untrained.
1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke vi. 75 Unlearned and rawe or grene in cunning. c1573Cartwright Reply to Whitgift's Answ. 27 Hauing a contrary precept giuen, that no newe plant, or greene christian, should be taken to the ministerie. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. xiv. 97 b, As they were young of yeeres and age, they should also bee greene of sense and judgment. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. i. ii. 94. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 744 He being an old commander, and halfe blind, saw more in the matter than all those greene captaines with their sharpe sight. 1639Fuller Holy War i. xii. (1640) 18 Green striplings unripe for warre. 1735Dyche & Pardon Dict. s.v., A young or inexperienced Person in Arts, Sciences, &c. is sometimes said to be green. 1822Lamb Elia Ser. i. Some old Actors, Green probationers in mischief. 1845Stocqueler Handbk. Brit. India (1854) 102 Boys and girls, green in mind though blooming in person. 1864C. F. Hale Life with Esquimaux I. 91 Being a stranger in the place and a green hand, I found it very difficult to get a berth. 1871S. Smiles Jr. Boy's Voy. Round World xiii. (1875) 136, I had gone out parrot-potting, with another young fellow almost as green as myself. 1876Coursing Calendar 5 Mr Vyner's puppy appearing to run very green to commence with. 1880A. H. Huth Buckle I. iv. 246 [He] chooses his course while his mind is yet green and unformed. 1889C. Booth Labour & Life People I. 232 At first the new master will live on ‘green’ labour. 1894Sir J. D. Astley 50 Years Life II. 75 Actea ran very green, and had a small boy on her back. 1894Times 10 Jan. 11/5 Very early in her voyage she encountered a very severe storm, and that with a green crew. 1897Outing (U.S.) May 110/2 Trained coach-horses..as well as green stock. 1965Observer (Colour Suppl.) 30 May 34 Running green, a horse that gets upset by the crowd and the noise and other unfamiliar surroundings.
d. Hence, of persons, their ideas or actions: Simple, gullible; characterized by, or displaying, simplicity. So phr. to be not as green as one is cabbage-looking: to be less of a fool than might be assumed.
1605Chapman All Fooles iv. i, You're green, your credulous; easy to be blinded. 1695Congreve Love for L. iv. xiii, He hadn't a Word to say, and so I left 'n, and the green Girl together. 1753Scots Mag. Oct. 490/2 Green..I continued even in externals near two years. 1825C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 236 note, ‘Chaunting’ a horse to a green one. 1838Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 219 Ladies who are very blue are apt to be rather green. 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxvii, I've been and got married. That's rather green, you'll say. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. iv. (1889) 36 Most readers..will think our hero very green for being puzzled at so simple a matter. 1884Pae Eustace 35 The chap is precious green for one of his inches. 1898,1922[see cabbage n.1 1 d]. 1931E. Raymond Mary Leith iv. ii. 318, I ain't the sort to be taken in by his gaff. I may look a fool..but I'm not as green as I'm cabbage-looking. 1969J. N. Smith Is he Dead, Miss ffinch? xviii. 117 Women don't have a sense of direction... But I'm not as green as I'm cabbage-looking. 1970J. Fleming Young Man, I think you're Dying i. 16 Mind you, she's not as green as she's cabbage-looking, she never leaves you alone in the room.
9. That has not been prepared by drying; hence, in wider sense, not ready for use or consumption.
a. Of wood, vegetable products, or things made of these: Not thoroughly dried, unseasoned.
1477Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 65 Grene wode is hotter than the other whan it is wel kyndeled. 1523Fitzherb. Bk. Husb. §24 If the rake be made of grene woode, the heed wyll not abyde vppon the stele. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. iii. 90 One of you wil proue a shrunke pannell, and like greene timber, warpe, warpe. 1604E. Grimstone Hist. Siege Ostend 29 Certaine Gabions..being too greene or wet. 1611Bible Judg. xvi. 7 If they binde mee with seuen greene withs [marg. Or, newe coards, Heb. moist], that were neuer dried. 1749Erskine Serm. Wks. 1871 III. 367 A green yoke is galling and uneasy to the cattle. 1777G. Forster Voy. round World I. 498 It had unfortunately been packed into new, or what are called green casks. 1881Chicago Times 1 June, Lumber Rep., Quotations for cargoes of green lumber.
b. Of flesh, fish: Freshly killed or taken; unsalted; uncured; undried. Of meat: Uncooked, underdone, raw. Of ham, bacon: Undried, unsmoked.
c1460[see green-fish 1]. 1577Harrison England iii. i. in Holinshed I. 221/2 Of these [swine] some we eat greene for porke, and other dried vp into bakon. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 463 Their Oxen, Camels, and Sheep, eat fishes after they be dryed, for they care not for them when they be green. 1651Manch. Crt. Leet Rec. (1887) IV. 68 For sellinge a stirke beefe wch wee were informed had the turne and for sellinge a quarter of greene beefe the same day. 1697W. Dampier Voy. (1729) I. 538 Their Legs are wrapt round with Sheeps-guts..These are put on when they are green. 1714Fr. Bk. of Rates 42 Fish-Cod dry..Ditto Green. 1725Watts Logic i. iv. §8 We say, the Meat is green when it is half-roasted. 1796H. Glasse Cookery iii. 26 A green ham wants no soaking. 1814Pegge Suppl. to Grose, Green, raw, not done enough. 1845Disraeli Sybil vi. vii, ‘'Tis the tenpence a pound flitch’, said the comely dame..‘I have paid as much for very green stuff’, said Mrs. Mullins. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 352/2 The sides are re-stacked and salted..They are now ‘green bacon’, and only require drying and smoking.
c. Of a skin or hide: Raw, untanned, unseasoned. (green hide is freq. written with a hyphen or as a single word, esp. when used attrib.)
1577Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. viii. xxiii. (1585) 163 A yong man..was wrapped together with a dogge and a serpent in a greene oxe hyde, and caste into the deapth of the sea. 1727–41Chambers Cycl., Green hide, is that not yet tanned, or dressed, but such as taken off from the carcase. 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxx. 111 Wheel-ropes made of green hide, laid up in the form of ropes. 1852C. Morfit Tanning & Currying (1853) 148 It would be greatly to the interest of the tanner..if all hides were imported in a green state, that is, merely salted. 1881A. C. Grant Bush Life Queensland iii. (1882) 21 A long-handled whip with thong of raw salted hide, called in the colony ‘greenhide’. Ibid. viii. 72 A strongly plaited greenhide-halter was now slipped over the head. 1889‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms xxiv, Most of 'em were..winding up greenhide buckets filled with gravel from shafts. 1893F. C. Selous Trav. S.E. Africa 92 This skin..was the green hide of an eland bull.
d. Of clay, bricks, pottery, etc.: Undried, unburnt, unfired. green sand: ‘sand used for moulds without previous drying or mixture’ (Raymond Mining Gloss. 1881); see also quot. 1839.
1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 463 When the clay is in one peculiar state, called the green state. 1831J. Holland Manuf. Metal I. 71 Green sand, as that used in moist casting, in contradistinction to dry, is termed by the workmen. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 516 Moulding in green sand.—The name green is given to a mixture of the sand as it comes from its native bed, with about one twelfth its bulk of coal reduced to powder, and damped in such a manner as to form a porous compound. 1875[see green-house 2]. 1882Chamb. Jrnl. 80 (Pottery) The salt-glaze process must essentially modify the ornamentation of the ware, since it receives it in the stage of raw or green clay. 1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., Green Ware (Ceramics), articles just molded or otherwise shaped, before drying and baking.
10. Unaltered by time or natural processes; fresh, new.
a. Of a wound: Recent, fresh, unhealed, raw.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8670 To winchestre he was ilad al mid is grene wounde. c1400St. Alexius (Laud 622) 316 Wiþ his blood & peynes grene. 1541R. Copland Galyen's Terap. 2 D j, Is nat that to cure an vlcere as a grene wounde? 1612Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 73 Resina..is excellent for the cure of green and fresh wounds. 1625Bacon Ess., Revenge (Arb.) 503 A Man that studieth Revenge, keepes his owne Wounds greene, which otherwise would heale. a1682Sir T. Browne Tracts 15 Pouring oil into a green wound. 1760Home Siege Aquileia 111, Like a green wound, At first I felt it not. 1780Burke Sp. Bristol previous to Elect. Wks. III. 366 Whilst the wounds of those I loved were yet green. 1866Conington æneid vi. (1867) 193 Her death-wound bleeding yet and green.
fig.1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. x. 393 Making the green wound of an errour fester into the old soare of an Heresie.
b. Retaining the traces of newness; perceptibly fresh or recent. Obs. exc. in technical uses.
15..Aberd. Reg. (Jam.), New and grein graves. 1611Cotgr., Peindre à fraiz, to paint with water-colours on a greene, or new-mortered, wall. 1679Trials of Wakeman &c. 30 He believes that the hand that writ the Letter..and the Bill that he saw green..were the same. 1721Perry Daggenh. Breach 87 The Mischief that must ensue if the Tide went over such a green Bank or Wall of Earth. 1739‘R. Bull’ tr. Dedekindus' Grobianus 174 Bid 'em be jogging, while their Boots are green. 1776G. Semple Building in Water 49 To preserve the green Mortar..from being washed away before it would get proper Time to cement. 1878F. S. Williams Midl. Railw. 653 If the fire is ‘green’ (that is, if coals have only lately been put on).
c. † Of oil, wine, etc.: Unmatured, not mellowed by keeping; also, in favourable sense, fresh, not rank or stale (obs.). Also (Sc.) of milk: That has recently begun to flow (after childbearing, calving, etc.).
1483Vulgaria abs Terentio 15 b, This wyne is ouyr grene, that is ryper. 1519W. Horman Vulg. 41 A cuppe of grene [L. austerum] wyne. 1606Holland Sueton. 22 His Host set before him..olde ranke oile in steed of greene, sweet, & fresh. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 197 Two ounces of this Goats-grease, and a pinte of green Oyl mixed together. 1616Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 632 Such greene wines..are..more hurtfull than any other. 1712Steele Spect. No. 264 ⁋5 It [Port] strengthens Digestion..which green Wines of any kind can't do. 1768Ross Helenore 6 Reed that her milk gat wrang fan it was green. 1825–80Jamieson, Green-milk, milk of a cow just calved, Banffs.
†d. Of persons: recently recovered from an illness (const. of). Of a mother: recently delivered. green in earth: just buried. Obs.
1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iv. iii. 42 Where bloody Tybalt, yet but greene in earth, Lies festring in his shrow'd. 1598R. Bernard tr. Terence, Adelphi v. vii, Its the better a great deale then the greene woman be brought hither thro the streets. 1660Fuller Mixt. Contempl. (1841) 250 England is this green woman, lately brought to bed of a long-expected child, Liberty. 1706Lond. Gaz. No. 4254/4 William Coster..green of the Small-pox. 1825–80Jamieson, Green cow, a cow recently calved; denominated from the freshness of her milk.
11. Of, pertaining to, or supporting environmentalism (esp. as a political issue); that belongs to or supports an ecological party; loosely, environmentalist, ecological. Cf. sense 17 of the n. below.
The association of the colour green with the environmentalist lobby, esp. in Europe, dates from the early 1970s in West Germany, notably with the Grüne Aktion Zukunft Green Campaign for the Future, and the grüne Listen green lists (of ecological election candidates), both of which emerged mainly from campaigns against nuclear power stations.
1971[see Greenpeace]. 1973Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 4 June 8/10 ‘Green’ bans have been introduced by the New South Wales Building and Construction Workers' Union. 1977Undercurrents June–July 38/1 What of local elections in France, and, most importantly, the ‘Green’ party in Paris? 1978Economist 14 Jan. 39/1 European politics are turning green; or so the ecologists would have us believe. Ibid., The Lower Saxons, whose party is known as the Green Environment List or, more euphoniously, as the Green party, consider themselves in the front line of the ecological movement. Their state has seen some violent demonstrations against nuclear power stations. 1979Now! 21–27 Sept. 71/1 The rebuff to ‘green’, environmentalist ideals is displayed by the drop in the Centre Party's vote from 24 to 18 per cent. 1985Times 25 Apr. 13/6 Dr David Clark, Labour MP for South Shields and Opposition spokesman on ‘green’ issues. 1985Sunday Times 22 Sept. 2/8 The 5,000-strong Ecology Party swapped its ‘too middle class’ name for the Green Party at its annual conference in Dover yesterday.
III. Combinations.
12. General combinations:
a. parasynthetic and instrumental, as green-backed, green-bodied, green-bordered, green-boughed, green-breasted, green-capped, green-curtained, green-decked, green-edged, green-embroidered, green-faced, green-feathered, green-fringed, green-garbed, green-glazed, green-grown, green-haired, green-headed, green-hearted, green-hewed, green-leaved, green-legged, green-mantled, green-recessed, green-ribbed, green-seeded, green-shaded, green-shadowed, green-sheathed, green-striped, green-suited, green-throated, green-twined, green-turfed, green-veined, green-waved adjs.; also green-flesh, † green-leave (= having green leaves), green-leafy adjs.
1792M. Riddell Voy. Madeira 77 The *green-backed cavally (gasterosteus Carolinus Lin.).
1839R. Reeve Mem. (1898) I. 104 A neat *green-bodied glass chariot.
1891C. T. C. James Rom. Rigmarole 22 The *green-bordered road was white with dust.
1776Mickle tr. Camoens' Lusiad 257 The *green-boughed forests by the lawns of Thames.
1645Quarles Sol. Recant. ii. 46 Teach her to slide..through the fluid veynes Of the *green breasted stream-embroydred Plaines.
1922Joyce Ulysses 499 A *greencapped dark lantern. 1963G. McInnes Road to Gundagai x. 154, I saw..some green-capped boys marching.
1859Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 5 The elegant *green-curtained bed.
1583Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 74 From thence wee trauayled to the *greenedeckt gaylye Donysa.
1727–46Thomson Summer 698 For oft these valleys shift Their *green-embroidered robe to fiery brown.
1916H. G. Wells Mr. Britling i. v. 138 *Green-faced and pitiful under an anaesthetic.
1655Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 169 Yet [geese] being taken whilst they are young, *green feather'd, and well fatted.
1855Browning De Gustibus, Men & Women 149 A girl bare-footed brings and tumbles Down on the pavement, *green-flesh melons.
1686Lond. Gaz. No. 2126/4 A..Saddle *green-fring'd round the Seat.
1808Scott Marm. vi. Introd., The *green-garb'd ranger.
1891Hodgkin Ex. Early Eng. Pottery Introd. 9 The *Green-glazed Ware, with a buff body..is called Tudor ware.
1807Dor. Wordsworth in Mem. of Coleorton (1887) I. 220 The floor of the alley..is simply meant to be *green-grown, which it will in a short time be with short moss.
1776Mickle tr. Camoens' Lusiad 475 The *green-hair'd Nereids tend the bowery dells. 1847Emerson Poems (1857) 24 The green-haired forest.
1807–8W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 335 The *green-headed monkey of Timandi.
1852Dickens Bleak-Ho. xxxvii, He is such a cheery fellow..Fresh and *green-hearted!
1508Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 11 Ane holyn hewinlie *grein hewit.
a1849J. C. Mangan Poems (1859) 357 Each *green-leafy bosk and hollow.
1607Rowlands Famous Hist. 39 Where shady trees Embrac'd each other in their *green-leave arms.
c1620Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 39 It will be still *Greene leaved. 1861Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. IV. 61 Green-leaved Hound's-tongue.
1678Ray Willughby's Ornith. 299 The *green-leg'd Horseman.
1831Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. viii, A hugh Troglodyte Chasm, with frightful *green-mantled pools.
1820Keats Lamia i. 144 Into the *green-recessed woods they flew.
1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 308 *Green-ribbed Spleenwort.
1880Plain Hints Needlework 73 The other varieties are Nankin cotton, *green-seeded, etc.
1909Westm. Gaz. 15 May 6/2 A *green⁓shaded city nestling oasis-like in its arena.
1854‘G. Greenwood’ Haps & Mishaps 19 Every hill & *green⁓shadowed vale..spoke to my heart. 1955P. Larkin Less Deceived 36 Green-shadowed people sit, or walk in rings.
1833Tennyson Poems, Lady of Shalott 8 The *greensheathèd daffodilly.
1870Morris Earthly Par. I. i. 191 *Greenstriped onions.
1859Tennyson Guinevere 22 All the court *Green-suited, but with plumes that mock'd the may, Had been, their wont, a-maying.
1861J. Gould Trochilidæ II, Delattria viridipallens, *Green-throated Cazique.
1851H. Melville Whale II. xii. 92 His *green-turfed, flowery Nile. 1933W. de la Mare Fleeting 101 Meek harebell hung her head Over the green-turfed chalk.
1848Eliza Cook Xmas Song of Poor Man i. 6 A merry Christmas to ye all, Who sit beneath the *green-twined roof.
1895Oracle Encycl. I. 565/2 The *green-veined white butterfly.
17..Sir Patrick Spens xv. in Child Ballads (1885) II. 22/2, I see the *green-waved sea.
b. complemental, as green-dropping, green-glimmering, green-growing, green-shining adjs.; green-stain vb.
1592Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 1176 She crop's the stalke, and in the breach appeares, *Green-dropping sap, which she compares to teares.
1859Tennyson Lancelot & Elaine 482 A wild wave..*Green-glimmering toward the summit.
1841Longfellow Childr. Lord's Supper 81 E'en as the *green-growing bud is unfolded when spring-tide approaches.
1858Tennyson in Mem. (1897) I. 428 One great wave, *green-shining, past..high up beside the vessel.
1856Aird Poet. Wks. 22 Clover leaves *green-stain his corduroys.
c. qualifying the names of other colours (= greenish, greeny), as green-black, green-blue, green-gold, green-golden, green-grey, green-yellow adjs. (occas. ns.).
1849D. Campbell Inorg. Chem. 281 Leaving this oxide in *green-black, anhydrous, lustrous crystals.
1844L. S. Costello Béarn & Pyrenees II. 41 A broad space of clear *green-blue sky was seen.
a1843Southey Comm.-pl. Bk. Ser. ii. (1849) 602 That *green-gold beetle, the most splendid of British insects.
1868W. Cory Lett. & Jrnls. (1897) 240 Light on steep *green-grey slopes. 1876‘Sarah Tytler’ What She came through xli, The green-grey or ‘water of the Nile’, dear to the hearts of artists.
1849D. Campbell Inorg. Chem. 297 From black, becoming blue-green, *green-yellow, deep-red.
13. a. Special collocations: Green Beret, the nickname for a member of the British, and later the American, Army Commandos; green-book, a book with a green cover, spec. an official publication of the Indian Government (cf. blue-book); † green box, an upper box at a theatre; green butter, a savoury butter (see also quot. 1938); green card, an international insurance document required by motorists taking their cars abroad; green-charge, gunpowder of which the ingredients have been mixed but have not yet undergone the incorporating process; † green coffer, ? a strong box covered with green cloth (cf. green cloth); green crop, a crop used for food while in a green or unripe state, as opposed to a grain crop, hay crop, etc.; green cross, designating a poison gas shell marked with a green cross, or its contents; green curtain Theatr. (see quot. 1961); green ebony, the wood of the West Indian tree Jacaranda ovalifolia; also of Excœcaria glandulosa; green fat, the green gelatinous portion of the turtle, highly esteemed by epicures; green fingers pl., -fingered a. (see green a. 1 k); † green-finned a., of oysters (see green oyster below); green fire, a pyrotechnical composition, consisting of sulphur, potassium chlorate, and a salt of barium, which burns with a green flame; green flash (see quot. 1925); green gill (U.S.), the condition of oysters when tinged green by feeding on confervæ (cf. green v.1 2 b); so green-gill, -gilled adjs., affected with ‘green gill’; green gland, ‘one of a pair of large glands in Crustacea, supposed to serve as kidneys’ (Webster 1890); green glass, a coarse kind of glass of a green colour, bottle-glass; green goods pl., (a) counterfeit greenbacks (see greenback n. 1); also attrib.; (b) vegetables and fruit, greengroceries; Green Jackets pl., a name applied to the King's Royal Rifle Corps and the Rifle Brigade, from the dark green colour of their uniforms; green-jerkin, one who wears a green jerkin, a forester; Green Line, a service of green express coaches in London and the Home Counties; also attrib., as Green Line coach; Green Linnets pl. (see quots.); green manure, a mass of growing plants ploughed while green into the soil, for the purpose of enriching it; hence green-manuring vbl. n.; Green Mountain State, the state of Vermont, U.S.A.; green oak, the wood of oak branches stained green by a parasitic fungus (used in the manufacture of ‘Tunbridge ware’); green oyster, an oyster coloured green (see green v.1 2 b), formerly regarded as a delicacy; green paper (see quot. 1969); green-plot = grass-plot; green pound, the unit of account in which prices of agricultural commodities fixed by the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Common Market are converted into sterling (the exchange value of the green pound is established annually); the similar unit in which such prices are converted into the Irish punt; green ray = green flash; green revolution: see revolution n. 6 d; green ribbon, a ribbon of green colour worn (a) as the badge of the King's Head Club, consisting of supporters of the Duke of Monmouth (1679–1685); used attrib. in † green ribbon club, green ribbon man; (b) as part of the insignia of the Order of the Thistle; green rod, the rod borne as the symbol of office by the Gentleman-ushers of the Order of the Thistle; † green rushes, fresh rushes spread on the floor of a house in honour of a guest who is a great stranger; hence used as an exclamation of surprise or welcome on seeing a person who has been absent a long while; green salad, a salad made from one or more ingredients, esp. lettuce, chicory, cucumber, watercress, etc., freq. served with French dressing; green-salted a., salted down without tanning; green-seal, attrib. of certain brands of wine, distinguished by a green seal on the cork; green-shaving Leather-dressing (see quot.); green-side dial., grassy land, pasture land, grass, turf; green-soil, soil in which ‘green crops’ are raised; hence green-soil v., to provide with such a soil; † green-staff, one who carries a green staff; green-stick Path., a term applied to a kind of fracture (see quot. 1885); Green Striper (see quot. 1948); green-stuff, vegetation, herbage; pl. a commercial term for green vegetables; green syrup Sugar-manuf., the syrup which flows off from the ‘loaves’; green table, a table covered with green cloth; hence (a) Hist. the board of Covenanting notables which ruled Scotland in 1638–1641; (b) a gaming table; green tail, a kind of diarrhœa incident to deer; green tar (see quot. 1864); green tea (see tea n. 1 b); green thumb (see green a. 1 k); green-ware, † (a) = greenstuffs; (b) see 9 d; green water, † (a) some remedy for venereal disease; (b) Med., a name for the lochia in the later stage; (c) the condition of the river Nile when the water is low and consequently unwholesome. For green apron, ginger, hasting, pea, pip, tea, etc., see the ns.
1949H. St. G. Saunders (title) The *Green Beret. The story of the Commandos. 1955Mountaineer (Fort Carson, Colo.) 2 Dec., Twelve of the green beret Special Forces troops will jump in the next test scheduled today. 1962Army June 34/2 Before each exercise starts, the Green Berets—Special Forces guerrilla leaders—have the advantage of being established in the area first. 1964C. B. Colby Special Forces 18 In the top photo a ‘Green Beret’ takes to the air over the cornice of a hotel. 1968Listener 22 Aug. 229/2 The Green Berets, as the Special Forces are nicknamed, are guerrilla teams who live in the bush and work with bigger detachments of South Vietnamese. 1970A. Sinclair Guevara iii. 40 Che['s]..manual..even serves as a text-book for the Green Berets and other North American counterinsurgency special forces. 1970Sunday Times 22 Nov. 23/6 Southampton [football team], as notorious as the Green Berets for their policy of search and destroy.
1892Times 14 Apr. 7/3 The results of these studies stand embodied in a ‘*Green-book’, of extraordinary interest.
1751Guide to Stage 10 Unless they [ladies] take a fancy to pass away the time en deshabille in a *green-box. 1808Earl Carlisle Thoughts on Stage 10 [Formerly] women of the town quietly took their stations in the upper boxes, called the green boxes.
1889A. B. Marshall Cookery Bk. ii. 38 Montpellier or *green butter. 1938Thorpe's Dict. Appl. Chem. (ed. 4) II. 187/2 ‘Green butters’ (i.e. vegetable tallows which may be coloured artificially to resemble Borneo tallow). 1951Good Housek. Home Encycl. 495/1 Green butter, a savoury spread used for biscuits, sandwiches, etc. 1965Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 5 Sept. 96/2 To make Green Butter; cream butter with garlic..chopped parsley..lemon juice, salt and pepper.
1959Motor Man. (ed. 36) xi. 263 The motorist must get from his insurers a ‘*Green Card’, which confirms that he has Third Party insurance cover. 1963Daily Tel. 29 Nov. 1/4 Green cards were introduced 10 years ago. 1969J. Leasor Week of Love v. 90 I've owned the car outside for years. I've all the papers... Green card. Log book.
1876Voyle Milit. Dict., *Green Charge. 1896Globe 10 Nov. 3/3 A ‘greencharge explosion’ took place at Messrs.― Gunpowder Mills.
a1483Liber Niger in Househ. Ord. (1790) 65 Thys Countyng-house hathe assigned hym one charyotte complete & a sompter horse for the *grene coffyrs.
1842Johnson Farmer's Encycl., *Green crops, crops which are consumed on the farm in their unripe state.
1918E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms, *Green cross shell, very dangerous asphyxiating shell, first used by the Germans, filled with diphosgene or phosgene. 1928Daily Express 22 May 1/2 An immense steel flask of phosgene, the notorious Green Cross poison gas employed by Germany with such deadly effect during the war. 1931Brophy & Partridge Songs & Slang 1914–18 (ed. 3) 314 Green cross shell, an enemy gas-shell of an emetic and lachrymatory nature.
1805Wynne Diaries 15 June (1940) III. 172 The Ballets have in general been curtailed..but this evening the *Green Curtain..dropped at twenty minutes after Eleven. 1826Life & Times Frederick Reynolds I. i. 16, I was much surprised by seeing a person put his head through the hole in the green curtain. 1859J. R. Planché Love & Fortune 31 Then amidst your applause may the green curtain fall. 1961Bowman & Ball Theatre Lang. 162 Green curtain, a heavy outer curtain, traditional from the time of the Restoration, but now outmoded, serving variously as an act drop, fire curtain, etc.
1849Weale's Dict. Terms, *Green ebony wood..is used for round rulers, turnery, marquetry-work, &c.; it is also much used for dyeing. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Green-ebony, a wood obtained from the Jacaranda ovalifolia, a native of the West Indies.
1830Booth Analyt. Dict. I. 101 The more highly prized *Green Fat..is found.. round the abdomen. 1846A. Soyer Gastron. Regenerator 85 Make choice of a good turtle..take out the interior, which throw away, first collecting the green fat which is upon it. 1870Dubois Cosmopolitan Cookery 56 To prepare the turtle-soup..add to it some pieces of the green fat.
c1645Howell Lett. (1650) II. ii. 12, I have sent you..two barrells of Colchester oysters..I presume they are good, and all *green finnd.
1912Nature 6 June 351/2 The well-known phenomenon of the *green flash at sunset. 1925R. Clements Gipsy of Horn 125 For the first time I saw the ‘Green Flash’, as it is called. Just as the sun is about to sink below the horizon a flash of vivid green seems to leap from it. It only lasts a second and is gone. 1931Discovery Apr. 112/2 The Green Flash is an interesting meteorological phenomenon. 1950Caribbean Q. II. ii. 40 In the West Indies..we have the finest opportunities for observing the phenomenon of the Green Flash..the bright green-blue light flashed from the sun at the moment of sunrise and at sunset. 1963Green flash [see green ray below].
1881Ingersoll Oyster Industry (10th Census U.S.) 185 In 1880 what the oystermen call the ‘green-gill’ began to affect the planted oysters in Back river. Ibid. 245 In Virginia, are to be found in the markets what are called ‘green-gill’ oysters. Some say they are diseased... The negroes claim that they are the best in Richmond.
1660Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xxxvi. 277 The courser sort of Glass (which the Trades-men are wont to call *Green-glass). 1838Dickens O. Twist xxvii, A pint green-glass bottle.
1888Boston Transcript (Farmer), Get a good melon, and if you can't tell for yourself by that intuition which is the best guide in such matters, then trust to your *green goods grocer's judgement. 1888Troy Daily Times 3 Feb. (Farmer), The green goodsman escaped, for the only proof against him was [etc.]. 1891Gunter Miss Nobody iii. xix. 223 The janitor..states that in his opinion, Stillman, Myth and Co. were in the ‘green-goods’ business. 1920E. Bok Autobiogr. (1921) 99 A market dealer in green goods.
1824in Sir. H. Smith Autobiogr. (1901) I. 3 ‘Well, I will make you a Rifleman, a *green jacket,’ says the General. 1927Observer 1 May 19 The Duke [of Connaught] loves the Green Jackets best of all in spite of his other military associations. 1970Times 24 Nov. 3/6 Men of the Green Jackets created a very favourable impression of their verbal dexterity.
1826Scott Woodst. xvii, By the force of his buffcoats and his *greenjerkins.
1932Times 6 Feb. 14/3 *Green Line Coaches, Limited, announce that arrangements have been made for the acquisition of the Skylark Motor Coach Company..and the London to Ongar service of Associated Coaches... Licences held by the above companies to be regranted to Green Line Coaches. 1935A. E. W. Mason They wouldn't be Chessmen v. 67 He..was almost run over by a Green Line charabanc. 1940Auden Another Time 77 Went by Green Line bus. 1961J. Stroud Touch & Go ii. 21 ‘How do we get there?’ ‘Train, I suppose. Or Green Line.’ 1968Times 22 Aug. 3 (heading) New towns are proposed within the Green Line range.
1870Brewer Dict. Phrase & Fable 365/2 *Green Linnets, the 39th Foot, so called from the colour of their facings. 1901‘Linesman’ Words by Eyewitness (1902) 191 Dorsets and Middlesex (famous old corps, with famous old sobriquets, ‘Green Linnets’ and ‘Die-Hards’). 1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words s.v. Nicknames, Green Linnets, The: The Dorsetshire Regiment. Through the 1st Battalion, as the 39th Foot. From the green facings.
1842J. F. W. Johnston Agric. Chem. 141 Among *green manures the use of fresh sea-ware deserves especial mention.
Ibid. 139 The practice of *green manuring has been in use from very early periods.
1838N.Y. Advert. & Express 7 Feb. 3/4 A Mr. Fletcher of Vermont, the only Administration member from the *Green Mountain States [sic]. 1948Vermont Q. July 74 It is of much historic interest to the Green Mountain State.
1887Phillips Brit. Discomyc. 147 *Green oak.
16..in Sprat Hist. Roy. Soc. (1667) 308 *Green Oysters, Commonly called Colchester-Oysters. 1858Eyton Oyster 27 The ‘green Oyster’ formerly in such high repute, is now gone out of fashion.
1967K. Robinson in Hansard Commons 6 Nov. 644, I wish to make a statement concerning the administrative structure of the medical and related services for which I am responsible. I shall..set out my views, probably in the form of a *Green Paper, as a basis for public discussion and wide consultation. 1969Times 1 Mar. 8/8 Green Papers..originated with the D[epartment] [of] E[conomic] A[ffairs] in 1967. Ibid., Mr. Michael Stewart..defined a Green Paper as ‘a statement by the Government not of policy already determined but of propositions put before the whole nation for discussion’. 1970Daily Tel. 10 Apr. 2/1 Doctors are divided over the second Green Paper on the future structure of the National Health Service. Ibid., The Green Paper, put forward for discussion, proposes the scrapping of the present hospital boards and committees.
1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 28 A large double Walk, and a *Green-Plot in the Middle. 1828J. R. Best Italy 410 It is approached by a neglected, unplanted, unfenced green-plot.
1974Financial Times 14 Sept. 12/3 Britain and Ireland have what is labelled a *Green Pound because sterling is floating in relation to the currencies of other EEC members. 1979London Rev. Bks. 25 Oct. 19/2 Because of green-pound devaluations British farm prices..rose about 12 per cent in this period. 1987Times 27 May 9/4 Mr Jopling has dismissed as ‘not enough’ a devaluation of nearly 4 per cent in Britain's ‘green pound’, the special money used in agricultural trade.
1906W. Marriott Hints to Meteorol. Observers (ed. 6) 66/2 *Green ray, a flash of greenish-blue light seen, when the sun's disc appears or disappears, in a sunrise or sunset on a clear horizon. 1963Meteorol. Gloss. (Met. Office) (ed. 4) 120 On still rarer occasions a ‘green flash’ or ‘green ray’, also lasting a few seconds, shoots above the horizon from the upper limb. 1971Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 7 Mar. 2/2 It was in March I saw the rarely seen green ray. Twice..when the sun had almost disappeared the very top of its disc seemed to shoot upward, sudden and brilliant, in an emerald flame.
1680A. Allam Let. Wood 12 Nov. (Bodl. MS. Wood F. 39 fol. 35) Prat's sonn..hath listed himself in to the *Green Ribbon Club. 1681Wood Life 12 Jan. (O.H.S.) II. 512 Sr. Southby was put aside, for being a green ribband man and saying that ‘the old king’ [Charles I] ‘died justly’, and speaking against the bishops and other things. 1725Lond. Gaz. No. 6344/1 The Earls..had the Honour to be invested with the Green Ribbon. 1810G. Rose Diaries (1860) II. 482 His Royal Highness mentioned the vacancies of a Blue, a Green, and a Red Riband. 1815Sporting Mag. XLV. 295 May I congratulate you, my Lord, on having the Green ribband?
1868Cussans Handbk. Her. xviii. (1893) 246 The Officers attached to this Noble Order [of the Thistle] are: the Dean; Lord Lyon, King-of-Arms; and the Usher of the *Green Rod.
14..London Lyckpeny xi. in Skeat Spec. Eng. Lit. 26 ‘*Ryshes grene’, an other gan grete. 1589Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 85 Indeede Doron..it is long since wee met..when you come you shall haue greene rushes, you are such a straunger. 1602Breton Wonders worth hearing (Grosart) 5 Greene rushes. M. Francisco it is a wonder to see you heere in this Country.
1891A. B. Marshall Larger Cookery Bk. x. 416 *Green Salad à la Bretonne... Take two hearts of well-washed and dried crisp lettuce. 1939Vogue's Cookery Bk. 69 Fennel is another herb that adds distinction to an ordinary green salad. 1969P. Highsmith Tremor of Forgery xi. 108 They had scrambled eggs with fried salami and a green salad.
1885C. T. Davis Leather i. 55 *Green salted [hides] are those that have been salted and are thoroughly cured.
1871Legrand Cambr. Freshm. 8 After having discussed a bottle of his particular *green⁓seal claret.
1885Harper's Mag. Jan. 275/1 The hides are next trimmed with a knife..and ‘*green-shaving’ in turn removes the roughness from the flesh side of the skin.
1613–16W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. iii, A christall rill Which from the *greenside of the flowry bancke Eat doune a channell. 1796W. Marshall W. Eng. I. 326 Greenside, grass, turf, greensward. 1880W. Cornw. Gloss., Green side, land kept in pasture. ‘The green side is the most profitable after all’.
1805Forsyth Beauties Scotl. II. 66 The soils..are..arranged into two kinds; namely, light and clayey. The former is called turnip or *green soil.
1899Rider Haggard in Longm. Mag. May 45 Our original idea was to *greensoil the whole of this little field.
a1618Sylvester Hymn of Alms 240 But reverend *Green-Staves, what's all this to you?
1885Sir W. Roberts Treat. Urin. & Ren. Dis. i. (ed. 4) 8 When sharply bent they [flax-fibres] break with a ‘*green⁓stick’ fracture. 1885Syd. Soc. Lex., Greenstick fracture, a form of fracture of a long bone in which whilst one side of the bone is broken the other is only bent. It occurs chiefly in the soft bones of children.
1948Partridge Dict. Forces' Slang 1939–45 87 *Green Striper, an officer in the Special Branch of the R.N.V.R. who wears an emerald-green stripe between the gold lace on his sleeves. 1951A. H. Cherry Yankee R.N. 417 The third was Lieut. Archie Pitt, Starling's green-striper Asdic specialist.
1851Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 97/1 Street sellers of ‘*green stuff’, including watercresses, chickweed and gru'n'sel, turf, &c. 1891Daily News 30 Dec. 2/7 The potato trade is very flat. Greenstuffs in more than adequate supply for the slack demand. 1895Atlantic Monthly Mar. 340 Fields of greenstuff and forage.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 1209 The syrup which flows off spontaneously is called *green syrup.
a1670Spalding Troub. Chas. I (1828) I. 119 He took also with him to the *Grein Table, the marquess' boy..with ane other called Gordon..for alleadged saying they would shoot Felt Lesslie. 1825Brockett N.C. Words., Green-table, the large table in the Guildhall, of Newcastle. 1861Thackeray B. Lyndon ix, His [the merchant's] bales of dirty indigo are his dice..and the sea is his green table. 1892Daily News 24 Mar. 5/7 ‘Do that’, say the Ryhope miners, ‘and then we will meet you round a green table and discuss this question of markets and prices’.
1847Halliwell *Green-tail, a diarrhœa in deer, to which they are often subject. North.
1750G. Hughes Barbadoes 50 *Green Tar. a1864Gesner Coal, Petrol., etc. (1865) 43 There is a petroleum spring in St. Andrew's parish, Barbadoes. The product of this spring has been sold under the name of ‘green tar’, and ‘Barbadoes tar’.
1744–50W. Ellis Mod. Husbandm. IV. iii. 104 Turneps, Clover and other *Green-ware.
1629Massinger Picture iv. ii, He's acquainted With the *green water, and the spitting-pill's Familiar to him. 1841F. H. Ramsbotham Obstet. Med. & Surg. 192 Before its final departure it becomes of a serous character possessing a greenish tint; it is then known, in the language of the lying-in room, by the name of the green waters. 1896Daily News 22 July 5/3 We are now in the middle of the unhealthiest period of the year in this country—the season of ‘the green water’.
b. In names of animals: green bass, the black bass (see bass n.1 1 b); green bird = greenfinch 1; green blights, plant-lice, aphides; green bone, (a) the garfish; (b) the viviparous blenny; green-bottle, a fly (Musca Cæsar) having a green body; green bug, ? a kind of plant-louse [cf. F. punaise des bois]; green-cod, † (a) = green-fish 1; (b) the Coal-fish, Gadus virens; (c) the Cultus Cod, Ophiodon elongatus; green cormorant, a name in Ireland for the shag, Phalacrocorax graculus; green crab, the common shore crab, Carcinus mænas; green dolphin, an aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum, that attacks peas and other Leguminosæ; green drake, an angler's name for the common May-fly, Ephemera vulgata; green eel (Australian), Muræna afra; green grosbeak = greenfinch 1; green heron, an American heron (Ardea virescens) with dark green back and wings; green-leek, an Australian parrakeet (see quot.); green linnet = greenfinch 1; green-louse, a plant-louse or aphis; green mamba, a venomous African snake, Dendraspis angusticeps or D. viridis; green monkey, the West African race of the grass monkey, Cercopithecus æthiops; formerly used for several other monkeys with greenish fur; green pigeon, a pigeon of the genus Treron, which is widely distributed in Africa south of the Sahara and southern Asia; green plover, the lapwing; green-pollack, the coal-fish; green racer U.S., a popular name for several snakes belonging to the genera Coluber and Masticophis; green swallow, the short-bill, Phibalura flavirostris, of Brazil (Craig 1847); green-tail (green-tail fly), a name for the grannom fly; green-tree ant, the common Queensland ant; green-wing, the green-winged teal, Querquedula crecca of Europe, Q. carolinensis of America. For green grasshopper, leech, lizard, monkey, turtle, woodpecker, etc., see the ns. Also greenback, greenfinch, etc.
1883Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4) 160 Black, White, and *Green Bass. 1897Outing (U.S.) XXX. 438/1 The boys called the rock bass the ‘black bass’, while large and small⁓mouth black bass were known as ‘green’ bass.
1678Lond. Gaz. No. 1321/4 A green Parroket..about the bigness of a *Green Bird. 1838Penny Cycl. XI. 437/1 The mules bred between a hen-canary and a greenbird. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 60/1 Greenfinches (called green birds, or sometimes green linnets, in the streets).
1879Rossiter Dict. Sci. Terms, *Green blights = Aphidæ: insects belonging to Homoptera.
1710Sibbald Fife 53 Acus altera major Bellonii; our Fishers call it the Gar fish..Some call it the *Green⁓bone. 1805G. Barry Orkney Isl. 291 The Viviparous Blenny (blennius viviparus), from the colour of the back-bone, has here got the name of greenbone. 1883E. P. Ramsay Food-Fishes N.S. Wales 29 Belone ferox, the ‘Long Tom’ of the fishermen, ‘green-bone’, and ‘gar-fish’ of Europeans.
1862All Year Round 13 Sept. 7 The *green-bottle, Musca Cæsar, thrives best on carrion and corpses.
1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 173 Insects that attack Fruit-Trees..as *Green-Bugs [orig. F. punais], Ear-Wigs. 1750[see green-fly 2]. 1838Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 205 There is nothing I dislike so much in India as those green bugs.
1667Lond. Gaz. No. 195/1 A French Vessel of 70 Tuns laden with *Green Cod. 1880–4F. Day Fishes Gt. Brit. & Irel. I. 295 Gadus virens..Coal-fish..also locally as..green-cod, green-pollack, gray-lord. 1884–5Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888) III. 253 The cod-fish (Ophiodon elongatus)..is also called bastard cod, cultus cod, green cod, buffalo cod, etc.
1883Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4) 115 *Green Cormorant.
1863J. G. Wood Nat. Hist. III. 580 Any living thing that can be caught becomes prey to the *Green-Crab.
1850Rep. U.S. Comm. Patents, Agric. 1849 339 These plants are often smothered with lice, or *green-dolphin, as they are termed. 1876G. B. Buckton Monogr. Brit. Aphides I. 134 Siphonophora pisi... Vulgariter. Green Dolphin. 1926F. V. Theobald Plant Lice Gt. Brit. I. 132 This common aphid is usually spoken of as the Green Pea Louse or Green Dolphin.
1676Cotton Walton's Angler ii. 323 The *Green-drake and Stone-fly. 1787[see grey A. 8, grey-drake]. 1884[see drake n.1 4].
1883E. P. Ramsay Food-Fishes N.S. Wales 30 Conger labiata and Muræna afra, the ‘rock’ and ‘*green’ eels.
1838Penny Cycl. X. 483/1 The *Green Grosbeak or Greenfinch.
1785T. Pennant Arctic Zool. II. 447 *Green Heron... Ardea virescens. Lin. Syst. 238... Inhabits from New York to South Carolina. 1855Knickerbocker XLVI. 222 Night-herons, snowy-herons, green-herons, and little-herons construct their nests so closely together that four or five hundred of them may be counted upon twenty or thirty cedars. 1883Century Mag. 653 Among the most common birds are the green heron.
1848J. Gould Birds Austral. V. pl. 15 Polytelis Barrabandi,..*Green-leek of the Colonists of New South Wales.
1678*Green Linnet [see greenfinch 1]. 1893Newton Dict. Birds 383 Greenfinch or Green Linnet, as it is very often called.
1822–34Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 264, I have seen..a hop-ground completely overrun and desolated by the aphis humuli or hop *green-louse.
1882C. C. Hopley Snakes ix. 154 Another African snake, the ‘*Green Mamba’, has such very bad manners that it not only hisses, but spits and darts at you. 1912F. W. Fitzsimons Snakes S. Afr. (ed. 2) vi. 196 Green Mambas are always found in the forests, clumps of tangled creeper-covered bush, and wooded valleys. 1969J. L. Cloudsley-Thompson Zool. Tropical Afr. iv. 74 Although longer, heavier and more terrestrial than the forest-dwelling green mamba..it [sc. the black mamba] is not confined to the ground.
[1727Green monkey: see monkey n. 1.] 1840Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 57 Several of these smaller kinds are very common in Guinea. Allied to them are the larger *green Monkeys. 1866Proc. Zool. Soc. 80 The animals were undoubtedly referable to the common Green Monkey (Cercopithecus callitrichus, Geoffr.) of Western Africa. 1965D. Morris Mammals 150 The most important [grass monkeys] are: the West African form, known as the Green Monkey, with a very dark face and a stronger greenish tinge in its fur; the East African form [etc.]. 1967New Scientist 9 Nov. 330/2 Green monkey fever has baffled microbiologists throughout the world.
1832J. Gould Century of Birds Tab. lviii, The present as well as the preceding species, together with several others, are known to the natives of India by the general name of the *Green Pigeon. 1884Layard & Sharpe Birds S. Afr. 557 This species [sc. Treron calva] is easily distinguished from the other Green Pigeons of South Africa by its grey tail. 1928H. Whistler Popular Handbk. Indian Birds 297 The Green Pigeon is found almost throughout India, Burma and Ceylon, and farther east. 1952Mackworth-Praed & Grant Birds E. & N.E. Afr. I. 486 The normal voice of all Green Pigeons is most curious, it is a sort of clucking whistling yap. 1967D. Goodwin Pigeons & Doves of World 300 In both the wedge-tailed and pin-tailed green pigeons there are some morphological differences.
1610W. Folkingham Art of Survey iv. iii. 83 Gray, *Greene and Bastard Plover. 1883H. W. V. Stuart Egypt 383 Underneath the left-hand tower of the pavilion may be observed a bird squatting on a bowl..it represents a green plover.
1880–4*Green pollack [see green cod above].
1870Amer. Naturalist III. 124 *Green Racer (Boscanion vetustus). I saw one dead specimen of this snake along Hell Gate River. 1957A. H. & A. A. Wright Handbk. Snakes U.S. & Canada I. 464 Green racer... Masticophis taeniatus schotti.
1787,1834*Green-tail [see grannom].
1847Leichhardt Jrnl. ix. 294 It was at the lower part of the Lynd that we first saw the *green-tree ant.
1895Outing (U.S.) Dec. 212/1 They were soon joined by more *green-wings.
c. In names of plants and fruits: green arrow, dial. corruption of Green Yarrow, Achillea Millefolium; green ash, a variety of the ash tree (see quot. 1882); green-bind, a variety of hop; green brier, an American name for Smilax (Treas. Bot. 1866); green broom, the common broom, Sarothamnus or Cytisus scoparius; green dragon, (a) the plant Dracunculus vulgaris (formerly Arum D.) = dragon1 14; (b) the U.S. plant Arisæma Dracontium, dragon-root (Webster 1864); † green endive, Lactuca virosa or L. Scariola; † green fillet, a kind of apple (see quot.); green laver, an edible seaweed, Ulva Lactuca and U. latissima, also called locally green oyster (Morris Austral Eng.) and green sloke (Jam.); † green mustard, a name for pepperwort, Lepidium latifolium; green rose, Rosa chinensis viridiflora; green withe, a climbing orchid of Jamaica, Vanilla claviculata; green-wort, sneeze-wort, Achillea Ptarmica. For green hellebore, osier, rose, spleen-wort, thistle, etc., see the ns. Also greengage, greenheart, green sauce, greenweed.
1886Suffolk Rime in Britten & Holland Plant-n. s.v. Arrow, *Green 'Arrow, Green 'Arrow, you bears a white blow. 1898Rider Haggard in Longm. Mag. Oct. 500, I found the wildflower called Green-arrow in bloom.
1843Marryat M. Violet xliv. 367 A luxuriant growth of noble timber, such as..blue and *green ash. 1882Garden 23 Sept. 273/1 The green Ash..so called from the colour of the young shoots.
1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. (1807) II. 233 This plant [the hop]..has several varieties, as the red-bind, the *green-bind, the white-bind.
1733Miller Gard. Dict. (ed. 2), Cytiso-genista, Common (or *Green) Broom.
1840Paxton Bot. Dict., *Green Dragon.
1548Turner Names of Herbes 45 Lactuca..The thyrde sorte is called in latin Lactuca syluestris, in englishe *greene Endyue, the Poticaries haue longe abused thys herbe for right Endyue.
1676Beal in Phil. Trans. XI. 587 Green Cider..made of a *green fillet, as they called it, where they had other kinds of fillets. This which I commend..was a small, round, and green Apple full of black spots.
1829Loudon Encycl. Plants 941 The *green laver which, stewed with lemon juice, is so much esteemed in England, is the Ulva lactuca.
1597Gerarde Herbal Suppl., *Green Mustard is Dittander.
1911E. Willmott Genus Rosa I. 80 The curious *Green Rose belongs to this section [sc. chinensis]. It is in no way beautiful, but is remarkable from having all its floral organs transformed into leaves. 1932‘J. Hill’ Curious Gardener viii. 126 The ‘Green Rose’, which appeared about seventy years ago in America..is some⁓times listed in catalogues. 1962G. S. Thomas Shrub Roses of Today x. 122 [Rosa] chinensis viridiflora (R. monstrosa). The ‘Green Rose’.
1725Sloane Jamaica II. 160 *Green⁓with. This plant hangs down from the branches of trees.
1854S. Thomson Wild Fl. iii. (ed. 4) 241 The *greenwort, or Achillea ptarmica.
d. In names of mineral and chemical substances: † green brass = verdigris; green diallage, (a) diallage, a variety of pyroxene; (b) = smaragdite, a variety of amphibole; green drops, ‘a coloured solution of corrosive sublimate’ (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1886); green earth = glauconite; green gold, an alloy of gold and silver; green iron ore = dufrenite; green lead ore = pyromorphite; green marble = serpentine; green mineral = malachite. For green bice, copperas, iodide of mercury, salt of Magnus, vitriol, etc., see the ns. Also greenstone.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clxxxviii. (1495) 729 Vyneygre fretyth metalles and gendreth therof dyuers colours: as Serusa of leed, *grene brasse of copur and Lazurium of syluer.
1837Dana Syst. Min. 305 *Green Diallage, Kokkolit, Baikalit.
1794Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 196 *Green Earth. 1843Portlock Geol. 212 Green Earth is common, lining the cavities in amygdaloid throughout the basaltic range.
1799G. Smith Laboratory I. 72 An alloy of silver with gold produces *green gold. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 724 To heighten the colour of Green Gold. 1935W. G. Hardy Father Abraham iii. iii. 265 They opened the chests and yellow gold blinded his eyes and massy bars of silver and green gold. 1951J. R. Partington Gen. & Inorg. Chem. (ed. 2) xiii. 353 Electrum is a native alloy of gold and 15–45 p.c. of silver; green gold contains 10 p.c. of silver: these alloys were called asem in ancient Egypt.
1864Watts Dict. Chem. II. 944 *Green Iron Ore, native ferric phosphate.
Ibid., *Green lead ore, arsenio⁓phosphate of lead with chloride of lead.
1879Rossiter Dict. Sci. Terms, *Green marble = Serpentine.
1844Hoblyn Dict. Med., *Green mineral, a carbonate of copper, used as a pigment.
B. n.
1. The adj. used absol. That which is green; the green part of anything.
c1000Sax. Leechd. I. 398 Bere siþþan ða turf to circean..& wende man þæt grene to ðan weofode. 1764Foote Patron i. Wks. 1799 I. 331 Sever the green [i.e. the ‘green fat’ of turtle] from the shell with the skill of the ablest anatomist.
2. a. Green colour. In pl. = different tints of green. † in green: on a (heraldic) field of green. Obs.
c1205Lay. 24652 Þat heo wolden of ane heowen heore claðes habben. Sum hafde whit sum hafden ræd, sum hafde god grene æc. a1225Ancr. R. 150 Grene ouer alle heowes froureð mest eien. c1386Chaucer Sec. Nun's Prol. 90 Or, for she whitnesse hadde of honestee, And grene of conscience, and of good fame The sote savour, ‘lilie’ was hir name. c1475Rauf Coilȝear 455 He bair grauit in Gold and Gowlis in grene..Ane Tyger. 1644Digby Mans Soul (1645) 39 By severall compoundings of these extreames, reds, blewes, yellowes, greenes, and all other intermediate colours may be generated. 1667Milton P.L. vii. 479 In all the liveries deck'd of Summer's pride, With spots of gold and purple, azure and green. 1687B. Randolph Pres. St. Archipelago 107 The sea had a continual passage over us, so as our Deck was covered with a green. 1704Pope Windsor For. 216 In the clear azure gleam the flocks are seen, And floating forests paint the waves with green. 1821Craig Lect. Drawing iii. 176 Light-yellow has much clearness and beauty on purple and green. 1873Symonds Grk. Poets xii. 404 Its [the olive's] pearly greys and softened greens.
b. with defining word prefixed, indicating a particular kind of shade of green, as cedar green, celandine green, emerald green, grape green, leek green, parrot green, pea green, Russian green, sea green, Spanish green, vine-leaf green, etc.
a1500Flower & Leaf 35 Leves new..Some very rede, and some a glad light grene. 15..[see goose-turd s.v. goose n. 7]. 1611Cotgr., Verd gay, a Popiniay greene..Verdet, Spanish greene. 1658W. Sanderson Graphice 84 The best is Cedar-green. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., The dyers make divers shades, or casts of green, as light green, yellow green, grass green, laurel green, sea green, dark green, parrot green, and celadon green. c1750Shenstone Elegies iv. 2 Near some lone fane or yew's funereal green. 1805–17R. Jameson Char. Min. (ed. 3) 67 Verdigris-green is emerald-green mixed with much Berlin-blue, and a little white... Mountain-green is emerald-green, mixed with much blue, and a little yellowish-grey... Leek-green is emerald-green, with bluish-grey and a little brown. It is the Sap⁓green of painters. 1818La Belle Assemblée XVII. No. 106. 38/6 The most fashionable colours in this material are, vine-leaf green [etc.]. 1881J. Grant Cameronians I. i. 7 One [of his eyes] was a species of bilious green. 1899Daily News 16 Sept. 7/4 Lovely shades of green, such as grape, pistachio, and reed-green.
c. (to see any) green in one's eye: signs of inexperience or gullibility. (Cf. A. 1 h.)
1859Slang Dict. s.v., ‘Do you see any green in my eye?’ ironical question in a dispute. 1883G. D. Atkin House Scraps (1887) 161 Major P―'s unco' sly, There is no green about his eye. 1894Blackmore Perlycross 189 Sergeant, do you see any green in my eye? 1936F. Clune Roaming round Darling xxii. 219 The governor, however, hadn't any green in his eye, so in despair Andy smuggled a letter to Dr John Dunmore Lang. 1966O. Norton School of Liars vi. 106 ‘You don't have to believe all you hear.’.. He leant forward and pulled down his lower eyelid. ‘See any green, Mrs Sumner?’
3. A green dye or pigment; usually with some defining word prefixed, as bladder green, Brunswick green, chrome green, emerald green, Hungary green, mineral green, mountain green, Paris green, Prussian green, Saxon green, Scheele's green, Veronese green, etc.
1611Cotgr. s.v. Chevre, Verd de chevre, a kind of sand whereof Painters make their greenes. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., Mountain Green or Hungary Green, is a sort of greenish powder found..among the mountains of Kernausent in Hungary. The painters make use of this Colour for a grass green. 1816J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 556 Sulphate of indigo is used for Saxon greens. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 793 Malachite, or mountain green. Ibid. 1094 Scheele's Green, is a pulverulent arsenite of copper. 1849D. Campbell Inorg. Chem. 218 When to a solution of sulphate of copper a solution of carbonate of potash is added, it gives a blue precipitate, which on boiling assumes a green tint; it..is known in commerce as mineral green. 1887Amer. Naturalist XXI. 481 The insecticide employed was Paris green. 1892Pall Mall G. 4 Apr. 3/1 Paris green, an insoluble arsenite of copper.
4. Green clothing or dress, lit. and fig.; † green cloth. † Also pl. green dresses.
c1320Sir Tristr. 1380 A schip wiþ grene and gray, Wiþ vair and eke wiþ griis. c1350Parl. Three Ages 122 He was gerede all in grene. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. Prol. 117 Now hadde the tempre sonne..clothede hym [the earth] in grene al newe a-geyn. 14..Ipomadon 657 (Kölbing) A hunter all in grene. 1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 696 And where ben my gounes of scarlet,..blewes sadde & lighte, Grenes also. 1673[R. Leigh] Transp. Reh. 112 Would not exchange his royal purple for a forresters green. 1810[see greenman 1].
5. Antiq. As the distinctive colour of one of the factions in the circus. Also pl. the adherents of this faction. (Cf. faction n. 2 b.)
1693Congreve in Dryden's Juvenal Sat. xi. 35 The Green have won the Honour of the Day. 188419th Cent. Dec. 999 What light is thrown on the history of Byzantium by talking of the ‘Blues’ and the ‘Greens’?
6. The emblematic colour of Ireland (suggested by ‘Green Erin’: see A 2); hence adopted as the distinctive colour of the ‘nationalist’ party.
1797Song, ‘The Shan van vocht’, What colour should be seen Where our fathers' homes have been, But our own immortal Green? c1798Song, ‘The Wearing of the Green’, They are hanging men and women for the wearing of the green. c1798Hope in Madden Lit. Rem. United Irishm. (1887) 99 We fell to work, hammer and tongs, The Orange and Green both together.
7. a. Elliptically for a green species or variety of an animal or a substance, the nature of which is explained by the context, e.g. a green bird, etc.
1895Outing (U.S.) XXVI. 69/2, I made out the blue yellow-back,..the blackpoll and the black-throated green. 1897Ibid. XXX. 380/2 It seems that they were out of tobacco, and had been able to get only the ‘long green’ that the mountaineers used.
b. = green tea.
1728[see tea n. 1 a]. 1835Dickens in Bell's Life 4 Oct. 1/1 Two ounces of seven and sixpenny green. 1838― O. Twist iii. ii. in Bentley's Misc. IV. 115 Half a pound of seven and sixpenny green, so precious strong..it'll go nigh to blow the lid of the teapot off. 1903Westm. Gaz. 4 Feb. 4/2, 4,000,000 lb. of black tea had been taken off the market last year by being converted into greens.
c. fig. A greenhorn, simpleton. (Cf. A. 8 d.)
Cf. Verdant Green, the name of the hero in the title of the story (1853–6) of Oxford university life by ‘Cuthbert Bede’.
1825Spirit of Pub. Jrnls. 1823 (ed. 2) 63 It appears that George Charteris..had been ‘doing’ the green, and taking in the ‘deep ones’, quite in the gull-catching style, for a considerable period. 1837Dickens O. Twist xviii, ‘Well, well,’ said the Dodger... ‘That hasn't got anything to do with young Green here.’ 1840G. Thompson Newgate Calendar 280, I then with my comrade stole from a green twelve shirts..and some stockings. 1841Southern Lit. Messenger VII. 54/2, I knifed a flat-boat Hoozier—took his lucre—Went up the country—rifled twenty greens.
d. Also pl. Money. slang (orig. U.S.). Cf. greenback n. 1 and long green (long a.1 18).
1925Flynn's Mag. in Partridge Dict. Underworld (1968) 307 Greens, paper currency; bank notes. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §559/5 Paper money..the green, green boys,..greens, the long green. 1951E. Paul Springtime in Paris vi. 125 ‘A banker!.. Nobody comes on this scene wearin' any green,’ said another taller Negro. 1961New Statesman 21 July 81/2 The hours proved to be from four to half eleven in the morning and the greens would amount to eight ten a week. 1962L. Deighton Ipcress File vi. 44 At five shillings a dose that's a lot of green. 1968Scottish Daily Mail 3 Jan. 6 What had been ‘dough’ in the 20's and became ‘readies’ and ‘greens’ in the 50's turned up again as ‘bread’. 1971‘R. Crawford’ Badger's Daughter i. ii. 24 When finally we did lay our mitts on a nice pile of green, Arthur simply knuckled under to luxury.
e. A green light, lamp, flare, etc., meant as a signal. Cf. green a. 1 i.
1953R. Chisholm Cover of Darkness ii. 30 At last I was given a ‘green’, but the dim pattern of aerodrome lights made little sense by this time. 1962J. Braine Life at Top ii. 31 The car in front of me stalled and I missed the green. 1962J. Glenn in Into Orbit 213 You have a green. You look good on attitude. 1963Amer. Speech XXXVIII. 119 In the green, slang expression meaning that all instruments show safe readings. Many of the instruments have colored markings on them: red for danger, yellow for caution, and green for safe ranges. 1963‘W. Haggard’ High Wire xi. 116 Overhead there was the unmistakable clatter of a helicopter, then another. Somebody fired a green.
f. Marijuana of poor quality. slang (orig. U.S.).
1957J. Kerouac On Road (1958) 184 He got hold of some bad green, as it's called in the trade—green, uncured marijuana. 1969R. R. Lingeman Drugs from A to Z 86 Green, a ‘grade’ of marijuana sometimes of relatively low potency because it is low in resin content. 1969Observer 12 Jan. 30/3 Everybody was talking pot last week (or Mary Jane, tea, grass, weed, hay, boo, gage, green or technically cannabis sativa).
8. Greenness, as indicative of vigorous growth or youth; vigour, youthfulness, virility; phr. in the green, in the period of youthful growth or vigour.
c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. xcii. iv, Like cedar high, And like date-bearing tree, For greene and growth the just shall be. 1597Middleton Wisdom Solomon xi. 21 Man had..perish'd in the spring-time of his green. 1850Tennyson In Mem. lxxv, Thy leaf has perish'd in the green. 1866Neale Sequences & Hymns 26 How this saplessness shall flush to green. 1886C. H. Parkhurst Serm. 15 May, in Crafts Sabb. for Man 267 All disobedience is anarchy, young anarchy, anarchy in the green.
9. Verdure, vegetation, greenery.
c1386Chaucer Frankl. T. 523 The bittre frostes with the sleet and reyn Destroyed hath the grene in euery yerd. 1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 3814 With newe grene agayn Clothen the busshes in ther maner. 1563B. Googe Eglogs i. (Arb.) 31 The Ram..forceth ground (yat spoyld of grene Did lye), newe grene to yelde. 1657R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 50 Poor Sambo..and as good a natur'd poor soul, as ever wore black, or eat green. 1710Addison Tatler No. 218 ⁋1 This Summer..while the Green was new. 1725Pope Odyss. v. 90 Vines..With purple clusters blushing through the green. 1882F. W. H. Myers Renewal of Youth 183 All the scarlet flowers and tossing green.
†10. A tree, herb, or plant. Also spec., an evergreen. (Mostly in plural.) Obs.
a1300E.E. Psalter xxxvi. 2 Als wortes of grenes [Vulg. olera herbarum] tite fal sal þai. 1593T. Watson Tears Fancie xlvii. Poems (Arb.) 202 How each pleasant greene, Will now renew his sommers liuerie. 1664Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 196 Myrtles, Laurels, and other curious Greens. 1679–88Secr. Serv. Money Chas. & Jas. (Camden) 121 Several orange trees and other greens. 1688R. Holme Armoury ii. 86/2 Greens are such Trees or Herbs as are green all the year. 1698M. Lister Journ. Paris (1699) 204 Their Oleanders, Laurels, Lentiscus's and most other Greens had suffered miserably. c1710C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 142 A large fountaine..with flower potts and Greens set round ye Brimm. 1711Pope Temp. Fame 2 In that soft season when descending show'rs Call forth the greens, and wake the rising flow'rs. 1719Young Revenge v. ii, How every green is as the ivy pale!
11. pl.
†a. The green parts of a plant or flower. Obs.
c1600Acc. Bk. W. Wray in Antiquary XXXII. 80 Take the leaues of Blew violetes seperated from theire stalkes and grenes. 1620Markham Farew. Husb. ii. xvii. (1668) 84 That the wind and Sun may get into it, and dry the greens more sufficiently.
b. Freshly-cut branches or leaves, or other greenery used for decoration. Now U.S.
1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 192 The peaceful Ground, Which only Turfs and Greens for Altars found. 1702Lond. Gaz. No. 3842/2 A Triumphal Arch..adorned with Greens and Flowers. 1767Dodd Pious Memory 44 Poems 194 Strew thy greens and flowers so sweet. 1878Mrs. Stowe Poganuc P. iv. (ed. 3) 30 The Christmas greens in the church. 1897Globe 18 Feb. 6/4 The staircase was ‘trimmed with green’, to use the expression current in the States.
c. Green vegetables such as are boiled for the table. colloq.
In London applied spec. to certain smaller varieties of the cabbage kind, and to the young sprouts of cabbage. In dialectal use the specific application varies. The American Dicts. refer to spinach and the leaves of dandelion and beet as the examples of what would be called ‘greens’.
1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 91 Fresh provisions..such as roots, greens, hogs, and fowls. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. iii. 141 Greens, as wild celery, nettle-tops, etc. 1749Wesley Acc. Sch. Kingswood 5 Bacon and Greens. 1783F. Burney Diary 15 July, At Mr. Garrick's table [he] called out to a very timid young woman to help him to some greens. 1816Scott Antiq. xxxv, A few half-cold greens and potatoes. 1825Jamieson, Green Kail, i. That plain species of green colewort which does not assume a round form like savoys, or become curled; called German Greens. 1843Pereira Food & Diet 382 The Cabbage Tribe includes the Cabbage (both white and red), the Savoy, Greens, the Cauliflower, and Broccoli. 1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 149 The Dwarf winter greens not being required to attain much size before the winter. 1860Delamer Kitch. Gard. (1861) 169 Clear away the..rotting leaves from the lower part of the stems of broccoli, savoys, and other winter greens. 1861P. B. Du Chaillu Equat. Afr. viii. (ed. 2) 93 The leaves [of the manioc]..make excellent ‘greens’. 1883Encycl. Amer. I. 199/2 Vegetables, which he [the Western man] prefers to call greens, he does not know, unless it be in the shape of roasting ears.
sing.1779Forrest Voy. N. Guinea 86 We found near the Moodo's house, the green, called by the Malays Assimum.
†d. Green food. Obs.
1727Philip Quarll (1816) 54 Finding by the greens in its mouth it was not a beast of prey.
†e. The plant Duckweed. (Cf. grains, grain n. 4 c.) Obs.
1516Gt. Herbal cclix. (1529) P j, De lenticula aque. Grenes or duckes meate.
f. Sexual activity, esp. intercourse. slang.
1889Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang I. 429 ‘To have one's greens’, to have sexual intercourse. 1893Farmer & Henley Slang III. 206/1 To have, get, or give one's greens, to enjoy, procure, or confer the sexual favour. Said indifferently of both sexes. 1963C. Connolly Bond strikes Camp 3 Section A make a study of the kind of greens the big shots go in for. Sometimes we know more about what these people are like between the sheets than they do themselves. 1963L. Meynell Virgin Luck vii. 164 Mr. Cahill..is an adult male with healthy instincts. He wants his greens regularly. 1967G. Greene May we borrow your Husband? 27 Why not go after the girl?.. She's not getting what I believe is vulgarly called her greens.
12. a. Grassy ground; a grassy spot. Now rare.
c1300Havelok 2840 Sket was þe swike on þe asse leyd, And led vntil þat ilke grene. c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 2 Ine..wente to þe bataile in a fulle faire grene. c1400Destr. Troy 7732 The grete horses on the grene girdon abacke. c1460Towneley Myst. iii. 534 Behald on this greyn nowder cart ne plogh is left. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 966 All enriched with goodly gardens and pleasant greenes. 1625Bacon Ess., Gardens (Arb.) 558 The Greene hath two pleasures; The one, because nothing is more Pleasant to the Eye, then Greene Grasse kept finely shorne; The other, because it will give you a faire Alley in the midst [etc.]. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 325 Under a tuft of shade that on a green Stood whispering soft. 1715Pope Iliad iii. 223 Though some of larger stature tread the greene. 1832Tennyson Pal. Art xxvii, In some fair space of sloping greens. 1877Black Green Past. xix, You..nearly put your foot in it by chaffing old Chorley about selling the piece of green.
b. A piece of public or common grassy land situated in or near a town or village, from which it often takes its name; a ‘village green’.
1477Extracts Aberd. Reg. (1844) I. 35 Adam Strath till haue the Schripraw, with the Grene. 1509Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 172, j grangia juxta Bondegate Greyn in tenura relictæ Joh. Tomlynson. c1533Sir T. More Confut. Barnes Wks. 792/2 If Barns had not tolde vs so, we woulde haue went that Christe had bode hym..tarye till he coulde geate all the knowen catholike church together vpon a Greene. 1606Nottingham Rec. IV. 280 Common balkes and greens within and about the feilds of this towne. 1718Freethinker No. 80. 173 Every Holiday, she danced upon the Green. 1770Goldsm. Des. Vill. 7 Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain, How often have I loiter'd o'er thy green. 1805Forsyth Beauties Scotl. II. 131 The principal market for sheep and lambs..is held on a large green. 1835Thirlwall Greece I. x. 389 Sports, not essentially different from those of our village greens. 1870E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. III. 234 On the southern side of Wivilby was a little green. 1888P. Daryl Ireland's Disease 8 Dublin is provided with fine public gardens and splendid parks, which are here called greens.
c. A piece of grassy land used for some particular purpose, as bleaching-green, bowling-green. In Golf, the putting-ground (more fully, putting-green); sometimes = the whole links or field.
1646–1825 [see bowling-green]. 1847–8H. Miller First Impr. xv. (1857) 249 A long green ribbon of flat meadow, laid down in the middle of the landscape like a web on a bleaching green. 1849Chambers' Inform. II. 654/1 The holes are situated at the different ends and sides of the green, at irregular distances. 1878‘Capt. Crawley’ Football, Golf, etc. 83 Green, a name for the Putting-ground, or for the Links or field. 1886Act 49 & 50 Vict. c. 59 §14 Any lands being an orchard, bleach-green, walled garden, haggard, or yard. 1890John Bull 5 Apr. 225/3 There will soon be more greens in England than in Scotland.
†13. pl. = green sickness. Obs. slang.
1719D'Urfey Pills I. 313 The Maiden..that's vex'd with her Greens.
14. a. Short for green man or Jack-in-the-green.
1835Dickens Sk. Boz, Scenes xx. (1892) 159 For some few years the dancing on May-day began to decline; small sweeps were observed to congregate in twos or threes, unsupported by a ‘green’.
b. Phr. on the green: on the stage (see greengage 2).
1940N. & Q. 29 June 462/2 ‘On the Green’ is perfectly good rhyming slang for ‘On the Greengage’ = on the stage. As such, it is familiar to every touring actor, stage-door keeper and stage-hand of over forty, and is in constant use to-day. 1957Times Lit. Suppl. 6 Dec. 742/1 If a modern producer asks his stage-manager to summon down a man from the flies, we might well hear the cry: ‘Bill, come down on the green a minute.’
15. pl. = green syrup (see A. 12).
1889Century Dict. s.v., The last greens, after three successive crystallizations of sugar, are purified and form the golden syrup of commerce.
†16. A seton. (Cf. A 10 a.)
1781P. Beckford Hunting (1802) 124 A green, or seton, in the neck, is of great relief in most disorders of the eyes.
17. pl. The members or supporters of an ecological party, esp. that in W. Germany (die Grünen); those committed to environmentalism or ecology, esp. as a political issue. Cf. sense 11 of the adj. above.
1978Economist 14 Jan. 39/2 The Greens are more likely to take votes from the Social Democrats and the Liberals than from the Christian Democrats. 1979Listener 6 Dec. 775/3 Chancellor Schmidt..is now facing the possibility that the votes of the so-called ‘greens’ (ecology-conscious citizens) may decide whether his government survives. 1982New Society 22 July 129/1 Die Grünen in Germany: a federation of broad interests forged..from three major citizen action groups... British greens believe such a federation is possible..here. 1983Times 24 Feb. 17/8 It has to be recognized that the world's economic story is now developing in a manner that goes the Greens' way. 1986New Socialist Sept. 4/2 If the government's greens..get their way, then the pollution from Drax B may yet be cleaned up.
18. attrib. † Of or pertaining to ‘greens’ or vegetables, as green market, green shop, green stall, green woman [cf. G. grünmarkt, Du. groenmarkt, groenwiff]. Also, Of or pertaining to a bowling-green or golf-links, as green(s) committee, green-fee, green-keeper, green-keeping, green-man, green-putter, green-record.
1896Rules of St. Andrews in J. Kerr Golf-bk. E. Lothian App. p. xxii, When the *Green Committee consider it necessary, a telegraph board shall be used to give the numbers for starting. 1909Westm. Gaz. 5 May 12/4 The green committee did not consider that golf was a game likely to be benefited by inclusion in any programme of the Olympic Sports. 1926Wodehouse Heart of Goof vii. 230 The Greens Committee..have altered the Mossy Heath course.
1909Westm. Gaz. 20 Oct. 12/2 The committee suggested the charge of a *green fee of one shilling a round on each player. 1962Punch 21 Nov. 746/2 The economy-size golfer only needs a nearby course and a green-fee. 1971‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Doctor Bird ii. 22 Greens fees eight dollars, power cart ten dollars, balls eighteen dollars fifty the dozen. And a complete set of clubs and bag... Four hundred dollars?
1705–30S. Gale in Nichols Bibl. Topog. Brit. III. 47 Neat apartments..for servants and the *green-keeper. 1890Hutchinson Golf (Badm. Libr.) xii. 293 The green-keeper, engaged by the club at a certain annual salary to look after the ground.
1907Westm. Gaz. 18 Oct. 3/1 All that has gone past him, like the scientific *green-keeping. 1961Technology Oct. 257 Courses are also held in horticulture and greenkeeping.
1905Westm. Gaz. 10 Feb. 3/1 The *green-men use various liquids to bring the worms to the top, where they may be swept away and destroyed. 1928Daily Express 3 Jan. 9/2 After the snow had fallen greenmen tried to clear it away by flooding the course with hosepipes.
1604E. Grimstone Hist. Siege Ostend. 115 They slue 2 Souldiers in the *greene market.
1881*Green putter [see putter n.2 2 a].
1902Westm. Gaz. 28 July 4/1 Had Herd not been badly bunkered at the fourteenth hole he would probably have beaten the *green record. 1908Ibid. 22 June 9/4 At the age of sixteen he..had won a scratch medal and broken a green-record.
1753Pringle in Phil. Trans. XLVIII. 47 At a *green-shop in the little Old Bailey. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xxxvii, Who had subsisted..by the exercise of a mangle, and the keeping of a small green shop.
1755Fielding Voy. Lisbon Pref., Every sort of trash that can be picked up at the *green-stall, or the wheel-barrow. 1799Founders Fr. Repub. I. 440 An aunt, who kept a green-stall [etc.].
1760C. Johnston Chrysal (1822) I. 9 Peg Sprout, the *green-woman's daughter.
Add:[A.] [13.] [a.] Green Cross code U.K., a kerb drill recommended esp. for children, introduced in 1971 and subsequently incorporated in the Highway Code.
1971Times 29 Apr. 4/1 A new kerb drill for children is to replace the ‘look right, left and right again’ roadside slogan... Mr. Peyton, Minister for Transport Industries, said the *Green Cross code could be taught to and understood by children of seven and over. 1986Stone's Justices' Man. (ed. 118) III. v. 6572 The Green Cross code is a guide for all pedestrians. However, children need to be taught how to use it and should not be allowed out alone until they can understand and apply it.
Add:[A.] [III.] [13.] [a.] green audit = environmental audit s.v. *environmental a. 2.
1989Accountant Dec. 9/1 *Green Audits to be comprehensive should cover: – use of Resources, and – the pollution and other effects of the business on the environment. 1992Independent 3 Apr. 12/4 All of government will be subject to exactly the same kind of green audit as the Treasury now gives to public expenditure.
green marketing, the marketing of products on the strength of their (supposed) environmental friendliness.
1989Daily Tel. 7 June 17/4 On the *green marketing front, Heinz..has been named the Green Manufacturer of the Year. 1991N.Y. Times 26 Jan. A50/3 Their new approach is called ‘green marketing’ and in their efforts to portray themselves as environmentally concerned, some companies are making claims that do not stand up under close examination.
green shoots pl., signs of growth or renewal, spec. indications of economic recovery following a period of recession.
[1985P. Kome Women of Influence i. 21 When feminism regained public attention in the Western world, during the 1960s and 1970s, Canada still had a deep-root system across the country that needed only a few thunderstorms for it to send up green shoots, and blossom, and spread like dandelions.] 1989Independent 24 Nov. 10/4 In the greenhouse political atmosphere of this Prague November, all manner of dead wood is sprouting *green shoots. 1992New Republic 13 Apr. 19/1 Every week in the last four months of 1991 was marked by predictions from one minister or another that the recession was about to end. The ‘green shoots’ of recovery were now showing. 1993Computing 21 July 23/1 The government is in even worse trouble than before, leading to further economic uncertainty. So are the green shoots real this time, or are we in for more hard times?
▸ In North America and some European countries: designating a ski run or trail suitable for beginners, marked with a green symbol (cf. green circle n. at Additions) and represented on a map in green. Cf. sense A. 8c.
[1964Ski Area Managem. Fall 41/1 Runs will be marked with a green square for the easiest runs.] 1974H. Evans et al. We learned to Ski 33 Here is what we have found to be the general pattern of designation in Europe... Green: easy, for beginners. 1985Times 5 Oct. 13/1 Beginners quickly gain confidence and competence on the broad ‘green’ runs. 1992Economist 26 Dec. 128/1 Today an averagely fit person can master easy green or blue runs within a few days. 2002Calgary Herald (Nexis) 26 Mar. b3 The snowboarder..was navigating the Pica Trail green run when the crash happened.
▸ Particle Physics. An arbitrary choice of one colour of a set of three, analogous to the three primary colours. One of the three quark colours (colour n.1 17).
1976Sci. Amer. Nov. 51/3 For the three values of the quantum number it is convenient to adopt the three primary colors red, green and blue... (None of these terms, of course, has any connection with its conventional meaning; they are arbitrary labels.) 1991Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) (A.) 336295 There are three types of charge (conventionally called red, green and blue), because the quark-quark forces saturate when three quarks are present inside a baryon.
▸ Particle Physics. Of a quark: having the colour green (B.).
1981Sci. Amer. Apr. 45/3 In a state made up of one red, one green and one blue quark the total quantity of each color charge is again zero. 1982Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 79 7966 Quarks come in three colors..because they might have a red color charge or a green color charge or a blue color charge. 1998J. Gribbin Q is for Quantum 302 The proton, for example, should be thought of as made up not simply of two up quarks and one down quark, but of one red/up quark, one green/down quark and one blue/up quark.
▸ green circle n. N. Amer. (a symbol denoting) a ski run suitable for beginners.
1971News Jrnl. (Mansfield, Ohio) 16 Feb. 19/3 At almost all lift houses there are National Ski Patrol signs outlining ability requirements. The easiest slope is marked with a *green circle sign; the more difficult one with a blue square and the most difficult with a black diamond. 1983Skiing Spring 39/1 Try it first on an easy (green-circle) slope. Then, as you improve, move to more difficult (blue-square) slopes and mogul fields. 2002E. R. McManus Seizing your Divine Moment 163 You're a beginner. The green circle is where you stay... Do not, I repeat, do not go to the black diamonds.
▸ green space n. an area of grass or other vegetation; (in later use) esp. one maintained or designed for recreational or aesthetic purposes in an urban area; land of this type.
a1770M. Akenside Ode to Evening-Star ix, in Poems (1772) 288 See the *green space..Where one old oak his awful shade Extends o'er half the level mead Inclos'd in woods profound. 1846H. H. William Rom. Traitor viii. 124 There was a small green space by the wayside, covered with mossy turf. 1888R. Lanciani Anc. Rome in Light of Recent Discov. iv. 74 Towards the end of the third century after Christ there were in ancient Rome eight campi or commons, green spaces set apart mostly for foot-races and gymnastic exercises. 1943Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 48 481/2 The new metropolitan district of the airplane age will thus include within its sphere of influence..open green spaces surrounding its taller buildings. 1995Leisure Managem. Aug. 2/3 The need for a national agency for urban greenspace—a long-standing part of ILAM's Campaign for Leisure.
▪ II. green, v.1|griːn|
Forms: see the adj.
[OE. grénian (= OHG. gruonên), f. gréne (see prec.).]
1. intr. To become green, as growing herbage; occas. to appear or look green; to become covered with verdure, to be ‘clothed’ with green. (Also with over.)
a1000Boeth. Metr. xi. 57 (Sedgefield) Hæfð se ælmihtiᵹa..ðæt ᵹewrixle ᵹeset..wyrta growan, leaf grenian. a1225Ancr. R. 150 Hwonne þe rinde is aweie, ne nouðer hit ne bereð frut, ne hit ne greneð þerefter ine lufsume leaues. c1230Hali Meid. 35 Þi rudi neb schal leanen & as gres grenen. 1340Ayenb. 95 Þyse þri þinges..deþ al greny and flouri and bere frut. c1440Promp. Parv. 210/1 Grenyn or growe grene, vireo. c1500Death & Life 73 in Furniv. Percy Folio III. 59 The grasse that was gray greened beliue. 1612Sturtevant Metallica (1854) 98 Freestone greeneth presently with the first wet and raine. 1800Monthly Mag. IX. 464 On the fields where green'd the wheat. 1833L. A. Stanley in Mem. Quiet Life (1874) I. xii. 482 Larches all greening and every hedge ready to burst into full leaf. 1858Mayhew Upp. Rhine iv. §2 (1860) 204 The Rhine..has been gradually greening in tint as we ascended the upper portion of the stream. 1883Stevenson Silverado Sq. (1886) 17 The new lands, already weary of producing gold, begin to green with vineyards. 1899Daily News 15 Apr. 8/1 The wild-rose briars will be shooting strongly, the elder greening over.
2. trans. To colour or dye green; to soil or stain with green; to impart a green colour to; to cover with verdure or vegetation (also with over); to ‘clothe’ with green.
1570B. Googe Pop. Kingd. 10 The Rest with silver garnisht is, and plaited fine and neat Least it shoulde greene his holy hands. 1606Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. ii. 1175 God Almighty..Plaid the Painter, when he did so gild The turning globes, blew'd seas & green'd the field. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., All the greens are first dyed in blue, then taken down with woad, verdegris, etc. and then greened with the weed. 1730–46Thomson Autumn 1258 Whatever greens the Spring, When Heaven descends in showers. 1769Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 342 Nothing is more common than to green pickles in a brass pan. 1818Keats Endym. i. 217 Have not rains Green'd over April's lap? a1851Moir Poems, Glen Roslin x, Moss now greens the chapel walls. 1854R. S. Surtees Handley Cross (1898) II. 280 He has begun greening his breeches' knees among the hazel bushes. 1882Burton & Cameron To Gold Coast for G. (1883) I. iii. 75 The heap of ruins has long been greened over. 1891T. Hardy Tess I. iii, The..white frock..which she had so carelessly greened..on the damping grass.
b. Oyster-culture. To turn (oysters) green in the gills by putting them in pits. Also absol.
16..Green Oysters in Sprat Hist. Roy. Soc. (1667) 308–9 To prove that the Sun operates in the greening, Tolesbury Pits will green only in Summer; but that the Earth hath the greater power, Brickel-Sea Pits green both Winter and Summer: and for a further proof, a Pit within a foot of a greening Pit will not green. 1748Morant Colchester i. (1768) 92 All oysters are naturally white in the body, and brown in the fins. In order to green them, they are put into Pits [etc.]. 1825Cromwell Hist. Colchester II. 295 But this distinction of Colchester from other oysters is rapidly wearing away: indeed, it may be said, That few or none of them are now ever greened.
†c. Plumbing. To rub (new sheet-lead) with some green vegetable (see quot. and greening vbl. n.1 2). Obs.
1703T. N. City & C. Purchaser 195 He scraped the Metal bright, having first..green'd it (as they phrase it), all round about, to prevent the Sodder's taking any where but where they scrape it.
3. slang. To make to appear ‘green’, simple, or gullible; to hoax, take in, humbug.
1884Pall Mall G. 17 Sept. 7/1 Some of the little victims of over-pressure had, at any rate, enough spirit in them to ‘green’ their visitor pretty freely. 1888T. C. Buckland Eton in 1836–41 in Longm. Mag. XII. 153 Some mild attempts were made to ‘green me’, as boys call it. 1898Daily News 15 July 2/2, I have greened all the Spaniards.
Add:[2.] d. To render (an urban area) more green or rural in appearance, esp. by planting trees, etc. and developing parkland; also, to reclaim (a desert area). See *greening vbl. n. 2 b.
1979Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 19 Jan. 4/1 The disappointing thing about ‘greening Brisbane’ has been the vandalism to trees planted by the council. 1984Listener 10 May 3/2 Money has poured..into huge and extravagant schemes: ‘greening’ the desert, giving the armed forces a staggering array of weaponry, paying hundreds of thousands of foreign workers. 1986Daily Tel. 8 Nov. 11/4 He wants to ‘green and clean’ the cities, especially in the north. 1990Independent on Sunday 28 Jan. 5/5 UK 2000 involved the young in greening cities and restoring the countryside.
e. To render (a person, etc.) sensitive to ecological issues; hence, to make (something) less harmful to the environment, to adapt along environmentally friendly lines. Also with up. Cf. green a. 11.
1985A. Sullivan Greening the Tories: New Policies for Environment (Centre for Policy Stud. No. lxxxii) 17 The reason for much antipathy to ‘greening’ England, is the fearful suspicion that it would entail the importation and imposition of an alien and hostile set of intellectual and moral beliefs. 1987Times 21 Sept. 35/8 There is a consensus that the water authorities are definitely trying to ‘green up their act’. 1989Green Mag. Oct. 89 (Advt.), From tips on greening your home to details of a major National Society for Clean Air conference. 1990New Age Dec. 14/1 Green our tax code... 70 percent of US citizens now support a carbon tax, which would penalize all energy sources that produce the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.
▪ III. green, v.2 Sc.|griːn|
Forms: 6 gren(e, 6–8 grein(e, 8 greene, grien, 6, 8– green.
[perh. a metathetic form of ON. girna (= OE. ᵹiernan, Northumb. ᵹiorna: see yearn v.).]
intr. To desire earnestly, to yearn, to long after, for.
a1300Cursor M. 15511 (Gött.) Lang es siþen gane þat grened [Cott., Fairf. ȝerned] i haue þis ilk mete, mast at ete of ane. Ibid. 16167 (Gött.) Herodes grenid him to se and of his come was faine. 1513Douglas æneis viii. Prol. 45 Sum grenis quhill the gers grow for his gray meyr. Ibid. 51 Sum grenis eftir a gus, To fars his wame full. 1570Satir. Poems Reform. xii. 114 Sum feiris yair flesche, sum grenis to gadder crounis. 1585Jas. I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 67 He..greind Zit fast for day, and thocht the nicht to lang. a1605Montgomerie Misc. Poems xxxii. 5 Not that I grene ȝour honour to degraid. 1795Burns Election 76 Walie, That griens for the fishes an' loaves. 1831Blackw. Mag. XXIX. 6 The feck o' them gae'n sickly, and greenin' for hame. 1838A. Rodger Poems 108 Nae woman o' judgment need green To be rubbit, like me, for a kiss. 1862A. Hislop Prov. Scot. 40 Breeding wives are aye greening.
Hence ˈgreening vbl. n.2 and ppl. a.2
1585Jas. I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 23 When greening great for fame aboue my pears Did make me lose my wonted chere and rest. 1597Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 508 Frae anes that thou thy grening get, Thy paine and trauel is forȝet. 1637Rutherford Lett. lxxxv. (1862) I. 217 Longing and dwining and greening of sick desires. Ibid. clx. (1894) 296 Oh, if He would..let my greening soul see it! 1710Ruddiman Gloss. to Douglas' æneis s.v. Grene, A greening wife i.e. a woman with child that hath an extreme longing for some kind of meat, which, if it be denied her, will (as they say) do harm to her or the child. 1737Ramsay Sc. Prov. (1797) 33 Greening wives are ay greedy. 1755Forbes Ajax's Sp., Shop Bill 39 Perhaps I may their greening stench 'ere I hae done.
▪ IV. green
dial. var. grane v., grin v.1
▪ V. green
obs. form of grin n.1 |