olivaceousadj.
/ɒlᵻˈveɪʃəs/, U.S. /ˌɑləˈveɪʃəs/ Chiefly Biology and Palaeontology.
Of a dusky green colour with a tinge of yellow (like the unripe fruit of the olive); olive-green; olive.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > green or greenness > [adjective] > yellowish green > olive green
olive1600
olive-coloured1752
olivaceous1776
olive-greenish1858
olivescent1900
1776 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (ed. 4, octavo) I. ii. 376 The head, neck, back and wings are of an olivaceous ash-color.
1836 Family Tour through Holland 96 The colour..being that of a rich olivaceous green.
1854 H. Miller My Schools & Schoolmasters xxi. 451 Both shale and nodules bore..an olivaceous tint.
1887 W. Phillips Man. Brit. Discomycetes 20 Pileus at first nearly even, olivaceous-umber, dark at the apex.
1911 J. A. Leach Austral. Bird Bk. 152 Olive Whistler, Olivaceous Thickhead..olive brown; head dark-grey..liquid, whistling note.
1936 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 22 532 Wild-type in these crosses refers to a fish that is an olivaceous gray with numerous scattered micro-melanophores.
1983 S. Plant tr. M. Moser Keys to Agarics & Boleti iii. 132 Mushroom with Collybia appearance, with slightly cartilaginous stipe and often with olivaceous to green colour tones.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1776