greenyn.
/ˈɡriːni/, U.S. /ˈɡrini/ 1. Theatre slang. A name for: the curtain of a theatre. Now historical. Cf. green curtain n. at green adj. and n.1 Compounds 1d(a).
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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > a theatre > theatrical equipment or accessories > [noun] > curtain
curtain1598
drop1781
iron curtain1794
green curtain1805
greeny1821
tableau curtain1830
drop-curtain1832
rag1848
hipping1858
cloth1881
safety curtain1881
asbestos curtain1890
olio1923
tab1929
sail curtain1941
iron1951
swag1959
1821 P. Egan Life in London ii. vi. 324 It is far more difficult to please the company behind Greeny; I beg pardon, Sir, I should have said, than the audience before the curtain.
1840 New Monthly Mag. Jan. 44 An unaccountable delay took place..in raising the curtain, and the audience began to display their impatience by whistling..when old Chatty, putting aside ‘greeny’, stepped forward.
2000 Guardian (Nexis) 30 Mar. 16 ‘Greeny’ or ‘the green rag’ was theatrical slang for a stage curtain and ‘behind the green’ meant backstage.
2.
a. British regional. The greenfinch, Carduelis chloris. Now rare.
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the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > family Fringillidae (finch) > [noun] > subfamily Carduelinae > genus Carduelis > carduelis chloris (greenfinch)
greenfincha1500
green bird1675
green linnet1678
green grosbeak1776
greeny1825
1825 J. T. Brockett Gloss. North Country Words Greeney, the green gros~beak.
1831 J. Wilson Let. 26 May in J. Hamilton Mem. Life James Wilson (1859) iv. 135 One morning two of the young Adies called, and expressed a great wish for a pair of greenies.
1873 J. Ogg Willie Waly 203 The ‘rosies’ an' ‘greenies’ are perched on each tree-tap.
1892 H. A. Macpherson Vertebr. Fauna of Lakeland 136 Elsewhere the ‘Greenie’, as our bird-catchers call it, is generally a common bird.
1905 A. H. Patterson Nature in Eastern Norfolk 133 Week by week, in winter, large strings of dead ‘Greenies’ are brought to market.
b. Australian. Any predominantly green bird, esp. a silvereye of the western subspecies Zosterops lateralis gouldi. Also: (colloquial) a frog.
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the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > [noun] > family Zosteropidae > genus Zosterops (white-eye)
white-eye1837
zosterops1867
blight-bird1870
ringeye1871
wax-eye1874
greeny1890
the world > animals > amphibians > order Anura or Salienta (frogs and toads) > [noun] > types of frog or toad > suborder Diplasiocoela > family Ranidae (common frogs) > member of (frog)
frogOE
ranid1888
greeny1890
1890 Quiz & Lantern (Adelaide) 19 Sept. 6/2 Two Hindmarsh young gentlemen went out with a gun..shot a little ‘greenie’.
1902 Western Austral. Year-bk. 1902–4 (1906) 120 The Perth ‘greenie’ (Zosterops gouldi) is a too familiar form in orchards, and bears an unenviable reputation as a destroyer of ripening fruit.
1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 4 Jan. 21/4 As to the frog's persistency, I can vouch for that. I once saw a big ‘greeny’, who used to come up on the table at nights.
1958 Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Jan. 18/1 The two types of silvereye in W.A.—the western or greenie, and the yellow.
3. A greenhorn; an inexperienced person; a newcomer, an immigrant.
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the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupid, foolish, or inadequate person > person of weak intellect > [noun] > simpleton
innocentc1386
greenhead1576
gonyc1580
ninnyhammer1592
chicken1600
loach1605
simplician1605
hichcock1607
smelt1607
foppasty1611
dovea1616
goslinga1616
funge1621
simplicity1633
gewgaw1634
squab1640
simpletonian1652
ninny-whoop1653
softhead1654
foppotee1663
greenhorn1672
sumph1682
sawney1699
sillyton1708
gaby?1746
gobbin?1746
green goose1768
nin-a-kin1787
Jacob1811
green1824
sillikin1832
greeny1834
softhorn1836
sucker1838
softie1850
dope1851
soft1854
verigreen1854
peanut1864
daftie1872
josser1886
naïf1891
yapc1894
barm-stick1924
knobhead1931
sook1933
nig-nog1953
sawn1953
pronk1959
stiffy1965
society > education > learning > learner > college or university student > [noun] > first-year student
puny1548
freshman1583
puisne1592
freshwomana1627
bejan1642
nib1655
jib1827
greeny1834
fox1839
freshie1845
rat1850
buttery Benjie1854
pennal1854
yellow-beak1865
fresher1875
yellow-neb1879
yearling1908
frosh1915
the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > [noun] > inexperience > inexperienced person or people
greenhead1576
unexperienced1622
green man1635
greenhorn1672
amateur1767
green1824
greeny1834
Hoosier1846
shavetail1846
Boy Scout1918
nig-nog1953
1834 R. Southey Doctor II. 157 He was entered among the Greenies of this famous University [sc. Leiden].
1852 ‘N. Buntline’ Myst. & Miseries N.Y. (new ed.) iii. ix. 58 Anybody could know that these was took by a greeny.
1913 Survey 6 Sept. 700/1 When a letter comes..stating that in America even a ‘greenie’ can earn four dollars a week—eight rubles—the Russian girl marvels.
1932 B. Segale At End of Sante Fe Trail i. 75 If they hesitated, I knew they were greenies.
1970 J. Finney Time & Again (1974) xii. 148 You don't look as though you'd stay a greeny for long.
2003 R. Palley Call of Anc. Mariner 151 A new immigrant, a greenie as they were then called, was sent off..to buy a new suit for the Sabbath.
4. Surfing slang. Usually in form greenie. A large wave before it breaks.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > water sports except racing > surfing > [noun] > types or parts of wave
pounder1927
dumper1933
take-off1935
greeny1940
beach break1954
beacher1956
big kahuna1959
greenback1959
close out1962
curl1962
shore break1962
shoulder1962
soup1962
tube1962
wall1962
face1963
peak1963
pipeline1963
set1963
reef break1965
surfable wave1965
point break1966
green room1968
slide1968
barrel1975
left-hander1980
A-frame1992
1940 P. Kerry Cobbers A.I.F. 12 Johnny battled thru' the surf an' swallowed lots uv brine. But at last he reached the S.M., about 'alf a mile from shore, Where 'e was loafin' on the greenies, an' lookin' out fer more.
1970 Stud. in Eng. (Univ. Cape Town) 1 27 A wave can be a mere green back, or greenie, but more often it is a roller, grinder, pounder or dumper.
2004 S. Lewis Voy. to Vietnam 182 (caption) There was a certain beauty about a ship taking a ‘greenie’—providing your lunch had settled prior to the encounter.
5. U.S. slang. A (green) pill or capsule of a drug; (now chiefly Baseball) an amphetamine tablet.
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1966 ‘Petronius’ N.Y. Unexpurgated xii. 171 Don't expect to be able to pick up amies, Cheracol, Terpin Hydrate, greenies, dusting powder and other goodies you can usually get by day.
1970 J. Bouton Ball Four ii. 81 Greenies are pep pills—dextroamphetamine sulfate—and a lot of baseball players couldn't function without them.
1979 Washington Post 28 May d4/6 Once, not so long ago, the solution—the false solution to so many baseball woes—would have been simple. Grab a greenie.
2004 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 14 Nov. iii. 12/3 Were the 2004 Red Sox ahead of the curve at washing down greenies with a liquid stronger than cranberry juice?
6. colloquial (originally Australian). A person who is committed to or concerned about environmental issues; a conservationist or environmentalist. Frequently depreciative. Also with capital initial. Cf. green adj. 13, green n.1 15.
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1973 Nation Rev. (Melbourne) 28 Sept. 1572/1 The local greenies have despaired of stopping the dreaded post office tower by indirect means.
1978 Truckin' Life 2 vii. 77 There is a nice old barney going on involving..the motor industry and the ‘greenies’ over the question of vehicle emission controls.
1988 Times (Nexis) 7 June The protest had grown out of a successful attempt a few years ago to prevent a power plant being built on Lake Baikal. Greenies one day and political activists the next.
1990 R. Scarce Eco-warriors iii. xiv. 232 In the face of such hostility the Greenies kept up their struggle as they had from the start: unremittingly and non-violently.
2005 Guardian 16 July 32 Not by the widest stretch of the imagination would I be described as a greeny but I have sympathies with environmental concerns.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
greenyadj.
/ˈɡriːni/, U.S. /ˈɡrini/ 1. Green; verdant. Also figurative: vigorous. Now rare.
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the world > action or operation > manner of action > vigour or energy > [adjective]
sprindeOE
livelyOE
kaskc1300
wightc1300
courageousc1386
wighty14..
wieldya1413
ablec1440
tall of hand1530
sappy1558
energical1565
energetical1585
greenya1586
stout1600
strenuous1602
forceful?1624
actuous1626
vigorous1638
vivid1638
high-spirited1653
hearty1665
actuose1677
living1699
full-blooded1707
executive1708
rugged1731
sousing1735
energic1740
bouncing1743
two-fisted1774
energetic1782
zestful1797
rollicking1801
through-ganging1814
throughgoing1814
slashing1828
high-powered1829
high pressure1834
rip-roaring1834
red-blooded1836
ripsnorting1846
zesty1853
dynamic1856
throbbing1864
goey1875
torpedoic1893
kinky1903
zippy1903
go-at-it1904
punchy1907
up-and-at-'em1909
driving1916
vibranta1929
kinetic1931
zinging1931
high-octane1936
zingy1938
slam-bang1939
balls-to-the-wall1967
balls-out1968
ass-kicking1977
hi-octane1977
the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by good growth > [adjective] > covered with luxuriant growth
flourisheda1375
rankc1450
greened1568
greenya1586
verdureda1718
verdurous1717
flourishing1883
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) ii. f. 237v Mine was the scrippe: but thou, that seeming raid with Love, Didst snatch from Cosmas hand her greeny wroughten glove.
1593 Queen Elizabeth I tr. Boethius De Consolatione Philosophiæ in Queen Elizabeth's Englishings (1899) i. metr. i. 7 Happy griny Youthe.
1593 Queen Elizabeth I tr. Boethius De Consolatione Philosophiæ in Queen Elizabeth's Englishings (1899) iii. metr. viii. 3 Seake not the Golde in griny tre.
1620 T. Shelton tr. M. de Cervantes Don Quixote III. xiii. 81 A Nymph of the greeny Grove.
1669 tr. F. Strada in J. Flavell Husbandry Spiritualized iii. 235 In a greeny seat Of shady Oak.
1672 J. Playford Introd. Skill Musick (ed. 6) i. 64 When merry Lads are playing..Each with his bonny Lass upon the greeny grass.
a1770 T. Chatterton Compl. Wks. (1971) I. 38 Stretch'd out at length..he laie—As some tall Oak fellde from the Greenie Pleine.
1889 W. Allingham Life & Phantasy 110 Springlets, brooklets, Greeny nooklets, Hill and valley, and salt-sea spray.
1917 St. Nicholas June 692/2 All the time it was getting riskier to try to swim ashore, for he was cold as ‘Iceland's greeny mountains’.
1987 K. Awoonor Until Morning After 195 Come home now to the mountain Come to the greeny valley.
2. Somewhat green, greenish.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > green or greenness > [adjective] > greenish
greenisha1398
herbish1562
watcheta1609
willowish1653
greeny1657
viridescent1847
greensome1883
greenery1896
1657 W. Sprigg Ess. with Brief Adviso's 33 No Philosophy can perswade him that a greeny glasse is better for the eye sight, than white and yellow money.
1826 M. R. Mitford Our Village II. 192 A sky-blue sash..not the poor, thin, greeny colour which usually passes under that dishonoured name.
1896 E. A. Vizetelly tr. E. Zola Rome xiii. 444 The second floor dining-room was so gloomy, saddened by the greeny half-light of the courtyard.
1971 L. Beckwith About my Father's Business (1973) vi. 80 A ring he had unearthed in the rubble..didn't look anything like secret treasure, the metal being greeny and the stone..an opaque blue.
1997 Y. M. Murray Locas 72 Me with my sick greenie face from throwing up my breakfast every morning.
Compounds
Modifying colour words to form nouns and adjectives, as greeny blue, greeny yellow, etc.
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1835 J. Clare Rural Muse 128 There lay her shining eggs,..Ink-spotted over shells of greeny blue.
1837 Penny Cycl. VII. 176/2 The flowers are greeny white, and appear in threes, collected in clusters.
1856 Knickerbocker Sept. 284 Just twig that greeny-blue sky, with the stars like billiard-balls rolling over the cloth.
1884 G. M. Fenn Sweet Mace III. ii. 18 A greeny olive snake raised its head.
1908 Westm. Gaz. 22 Feb. 13/2 Canard—a new shade of blue inspired by the lovely patch of iridescent greeny blue that occurs on a duck's wing.
1955 G. Grigson Englishman's Flora 68 Weld, in spite of the rather anaemic, greeny-yellow flowers, has a fine growth on the thin soil of the Cotswolds.
2008 R. Hill Cure for All Dis. (2009) i. vi. 69 The few teeth you could see through the foliage were greeny yallery shading to black at the roots.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1821adj.a1586