green cornn.
/ˌɡriːn ˈkɔːn/, U.S. /ˌɡrin ˈkɔrn/ 1. (a) Unripe corn (corn n.1 4a), corn not ready for harvesting (now rare); (b) spec. (chiefly North American) maize picked at a stage before full maturity and often cooked as a vegetable.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > cereal, corn, or grain > [noun] > maize > types of
green cornc1450
flint corn1705
flint1802
sweet corna1817
squaw corn1823
dent corn1853
tassel-corn1883
country gentleman1892
c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer House of Fame (Fairf. 16) (1878) l. 1224 Pipes made of grene corne.
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. clxxxiv. f. cviii/2 A presious vessell of stone called Onechynus, whiche was of such clerenesse, and also so subtely & craftely wrought yt it appered to mannes syght, as grene corne had Growyn wythin it.
1585 J. White (title of painting) in Brit. Mus. Prints & Drawings 1906-5-9-1 (7) Secoton... Their rype corne. Their greene corne. Corne newly sprong.
1624 J. Smith Gen. Hist. Virginia iv. 155 Then haue they plentie of fruits as well planted as naturall, as corne, greene and ripe, fish, fowle, and wilde beasts exceeding fat.
1708 T. Nairne Let. 12 Apr. in Muskhogean Jrnls. (1988) 48 They do not keep the busks as the Ochesees, but only make a great generall Dance, when they Eat the first green Corn.
1817 J. 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.
1882 Garden 25 Mar. 191/3 To go to America for a good..head of green Corn.
1900 A. Wilkin Among Berbers of Algeria vii. 149 Roman farmhouses, now engulfed in a sea of green corn and maize.
1908 M. E. Freeman Shoulders of Atlas 249 I wish you'd go out in the garden and pick a mess of green corn for supper.
1986 B. Fussell I hear Amer. Cooking iii. xi. 197 Nuggets of fresh sweet corn (called ‘green corn’ in the old days) give..added texture and sweetness.
2002 C. Lamb Sewing Circles of Herat (2004) ii. 62 In a field of green corn we passed an abandoned tractor, the driver's body hanging awkwardly over the side.
2. The Green Corn festival (see Compounds).
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1980 R. Strickland Indians in Okla. iv. 109 Many woodland tribes, such as the Senecas and the Cayugas celebrate the Green Corn.
2000 B. Pritzker Native Amer. Encycl. 415/2 They celebrate the Green Corn and other ceremonies and maintain a longhouse.
Compounds
attributive. Frequently with capital initials. Designating a dance performed by various North American Indian peoples at the time when the first edible ears of maize are picked, esp. in the eastern and south-eastern United States, or the festival or ceremonies of which this is the main feature, as green corn dance, green corn ceremony, etc.
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1689 in J. Witthoft Green Corn Ceremonialism in Eastern Woodlands (1949) 7 [The great dance would be held when] greene Indian corn was high anufe to make their bread of.]
1725 G. Chicken Jrnl. Aug. in N. D. Mereness Trav. Amer. Colonies (1916) 134 I have given Orders to them to meet me at the Great dance here (called the Green Corn dance).
1766 London Mag. Feb. 86/2 They [sc. the Cherokees] have few religious ceremonies or stated times of general worship. The greencorn dance seems to be the principal.
1844 J. H. Carleton Prairie Logbks. 31 Aug. (1983) 104 They [sc. the Pawnees] also have what is called the Green Corn Dance, and the Scalp Dance.
1898 C. H. Coe Red Patriots 247 The Green Corn Festival continues four days and nights.
1937 F. Densmore in J. F. Dobie & M. C. Boatright Straight Texas 280 It is many years since the Green Corn Dance (busk) has been celebrated by the Alabama.
2005 M. E. Pesantubbee Choctaw Women in Chaotic World v. 142 When people stopped telling stories about the Green Corn Ceremony, thinking about the ceremony also ceased.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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