green-headedadj.
/ˈɡriːnˌhɛdᵻd/, U.S. /ˈɡrinˌhɛdəd/ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > want of knowledge, ignorance > unfamiliarity with, inexperience > [adjective]
unwistc1374
unknowna1393
ignorantc1475
imperfect1508
rawa1513
unskilfula1547
imperite?1550
illiterate1556
strange1561
unacquainted1565
green-headed1569
unacquainted1581
unacquaint1587
unfledged1603
inexperienced1626
guiltless1667
inexperient1670
unconversanta1674
unversed1675
uninitiated1678
a stranger to1697
uninitiate1801
inconversant1802
lay1821
griffish1836
wet behind the ears1851
neophytic1856
griffinish1860
experienceless1875
neophytish1897
wet-eared1967
1569 T. Newton tr. Cicero Worthye Bk. Olde Age 43 a Such youthly prankes and exercises, as lustye and greene-headed galantes do enure themselues withal.
1593 Tell-Trothes New-yeares Gift (1876) 31 Those are greene headed that long for reformations.
1649 F. Roberts Clavis Bibliorum (ed. 2) 214 Rehoboam's tyrannical Answer..according to the advice of his green-headed Counsellours.
1684 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 2nd Pt. ii. 179 That with green-headed Ignorance I would presume to go on to the Gate. View more context for this quotation
1736 Prompter 11 June 1/1 In short, it was a Green-headed Time, every useful Improvement was hid from them.
2. Having a green head.
ΚΠ
1750 J. Dunn tr. C. F. Lambert Coll. Curious Observ. I. xxx. 301 The pelican,..the green-headed duck, the teal, [etc.].
1807 Salmagundi 24 Nov. 371 The green-headed monkey of Timandi.
1916 S. M. Crothers Pleasures of Absentee Landlord 144 Shadowy harps, and green-headed waves and gray ghosts sitting on a ridge of smoke were just the thoughts he needed.
2000 J. Cummings World Food: Thailand 122 Thais offer the black food to a green-headed god who threatens to eat the sun.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1569