green earth see green¹

on earth

1. Used for emphasis in phrases such as how on earth, why on earth, etc
2. Absolutely, without exception, as in best on earth

run to earth

1. To search out or find
2. To go to earth (lit and figurative)

the Earthshaker (Greek mythology)

Poseidon, the god of earthquakes

green¹ /grēn/

adjective

1. Of the colour usual in leaves, between blue and yellow in the spectrum
2. Growing
3. Vigorous, flourishing
4. Covered with grass, bushes, etc
5. New
6. Young
7. Unripe
8. Fresh
9. Undried
10. Raw
11. Incompletely prepared
12. Immature
13. Unseasoned
14. Inexperienced
15. Pale, showing signs of nausea
16. Jealous or envious
17. Easily imposed on, gullible
18. Relating to currency values expressing EU farm prices (eg green pound, green franc, green rate, etc)
19. Concerned with care of the environment or conservation of natural resources, esp as a political issue
20. (of goods, etc) environment-friendly
21. (of people) environment-conscious

noun

1. The colour of green things
2. A grassy plot, esp that common to a village or town, or for bowling, drying of clothes, etc
3. The prepared ground (putting green) round a golf hole
4. (sometimes with cap) a member or supporter of a Green Party, or an environmentalist generally
5. A green pigment
6. Greenness, a stage of vigorous growth (of plants, as in the green)
7. The green colour as a symbol of the Irish republic
8. (in pl) fresh leaves
9. (in pl) green vegetables for food, esp of the cabbage kind
10. (in pl) money, esp dollar bills (slang)
11. (in pl) sexual intercourse (slang)
12. (in pl) low-grade marijuana (slang)
13. (in pl; with cap) a political party at Constantinople, under Justinian, opposed to the Blues

transitive verb and intransitive verb

1. To make or become green
2. To introduce trees and parks into urban areas

intransitive verb

To become environmentally conscious

greenˈer noun (slang)

A newly arrived immigrant

greenˈery noun

1. Green plants or boughs
2. Fresh, green growth

greenˈie noun (Aust)

1. An environmentalist (also adjective)
2. See also greeny below

greenˈing noun

1. A becoming or making green
2. A deliberate policy of introducing trees and parks into urban areas
3. A becoming or making politically green, ecologically and environmentally conscious, or conservationist
4. A kind of apple green when ripe

greenˈish adjective

greenˈishness noun

greenˈlet noun

Any of several greenish songbirds of the American family Vireonidae

greenˈly adverb

Immaturely, unskilfully

greenˈness noun

greenth noun (obsolete)

Greenness, verdure

greenˈy adjective

Having a green tinge

noun (slang)

1. A £1 note (also greenˈie)
2. (in pl) money, cash in notes
3. A lump of nasal mucus

green accounting noun

An accounting system that accommodates environmental considerations in the calculation of annual profits

green algae or green seaweeds plural noun

The Chlorophyta

green audit noun

An assessment of and investigation into a company's green, ie environment-conscious, claims, methods, policies, etc

greenˈback noun (informal)

1. An American banknote (often printed in green on the back)
2. A plant condition in which fruits (eg tomatoes) remain green around the stalk

greenˈ-bag noun

1. A lawyer's bag for documents, etc (formerly of green material)
2. A lawyer (old slang)

green ban noun (Aust)

The refusal of trade unions to work on environmentally and socially objectionable projects

green bean noun

A French bean, the immature pod of the kidney bean

green belt noun

A strip of open land surrounding a town

Green Beret noun (informal)

A British or American commando

greenˈ-bone noun

1. The garfish
2. A viviparous blenny

greenˈbottle noun

A metallic-green fly (genus Lucilia)

green card noun

1. An international motorists' insurance document
2. An official US work and residence permit (orig green) issued to foreign nationals
3. A card issued by the Manpower Services Commission certifying that the holder is registered disabled under the terms of the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act 1944, and is thus entitled to certain assistance in gaining and carrying out paid work
4. In hockey, an official warning to a player after a relatively minor offence (signalled by the showing of a green card)

greenˈcloth noun

1. A gaming-table (informal)
2. A department of the royal household chiefly concerned with the commissariat (from the green cloth on the table round which its officials sat)

greenˈ-collar adjective

Relating to jobs in the environmental sector

green corn same as sweetcorn (see under sweet).

green crop noun

A crop of green vegetables, such as grasses, turnips, etc

Green Cross Code noun

A code of road-safety rules for children issued in 1971

green dragon noun

1. A European aroid plant (genus Dracunculus)
2. Dragonroot (US)

greenˈ-drake noun

A mayfly

green earth noun

Any green earthy mineral used as a pigment, usu a silicate of iron

greenˈery-yallˈery adjective (informal)

In or favouring greens and yellows, hence decadently aesthetic

greenˈeye noun

A small W Atlantic fish with pale green eyes

greenˈ-eyed adjective

1. Having green eyes
2. Jealous (the green-eyed monster jealousy)

greenˈfield adjective

Applied to a site, separate from existing developments, which is to be developed for the first time

greenˈfinch or green linnet noun

A finch of a green colour, with some grey

green-fingˈered adjective

green fingers or green thumb noun

A knack of making plants grow well

green flash or green ray noun

A flash of green light sometimes seen at the moment of sunrise or sunset

greenˈfly noun

A plant louse or aphid

green fund noun (finance)

An ethical (qv) fund

green gland noun

One of a pair of glands on the head of certain crustaceans

Green Goddess noun

A type of fire engine operated by the army in civil emergencies, etc

green goose noun

1. A young goose (dialect)
2. A simpleton (old slang)

green gown noun (archaic)

A roll on the grass (sometimes but not always understood to imply loss of virginity)

greenˈgrocer noun

1. A dealer in fresh vegetables and fruit
2. A large green cicada (Aust)

greengrocer's apostrophe noun

Same as grocer's apostrophe (see undergrocer)

greenˈgrocery noun

The produce sold by a greengrocer

greenˈhand noun

An inferior sailor

greenˈheart noun

Bebeeru (Nectandra rodiaei), a S American tree of the family Lauraceae with very hard wood

greenˈhorn noun

A raw, inexperienced youth

greenˈhouse noun

1. A glasshouse for plants, esp one with little or no artificial heating
2. The cockpit of an aircraft, having transparent sides (RAF sl)

greenhouse effect noun

The warming-up of the earth's surface due to the trapping of solar radiation, which would otherwise be reflected back into space, by carbon dioxide (produced by the burning of fossil fuels, chlorofluorocarbons, natural methane emissions, etc) and other greenhouse gases

greenhouse gas noun

A gas (esp carbon dioxide, also ozone, methane, nitrous oxide and chlorofluorocarbons) that contributes to the greenhouse effect

Green Isle or Emerald Isle noun

Ireland

greenˈ-keeper noun

A person who has the care of a golf course or bowling green

green label, green labelling same as eco-label, eco-labelling (see under eco-).

green leek noun

Any of various Australian parrots with green plumage

green light noun

1. A traffic signal indicating that vehicles may advance
2. Permission to go ahead
3. Any signal or indication of consent or encouragement, as in get the green light (informal)

greenlight' transitive verb

To give permission to proceed

green linnet see greenfinch above.

greenˈmail noun (US)

A form of business blackmail whereby a company buys a strategically significant block of shares in another company, sufficient to threaten takeover and thus to force the parent company to buy back the shares at a premium

greenˈmailer noun

green man noun

1. An illuminated green figure at a pedestrian crossing that indicates that it is safe to cross the road
2. (in British folklore) a figure symbolizing fertility, often depicted with branches and greenery protruding from his mouth

green manuring noun

Growing one crop (green manure) and digging it under to fertilize its successor

green monkey noun

A W African long-tailed monkey, Cercopithecus aethiops (green monkey disease a sometimes fatal filovirus disease with fever and haemorrhaging, orig identified among technicians handling green monkeys in Marburg, Germany (also called Marburg disease))

green paper noun

(often with caps) a statement of proposed government policy, intended as a basis for parliamentary discussion

Green Party noun

A party principally concerned with the conservation of natural resources and the decentralization of political and economic power

Greenˈpeace noun

An environmental pressure group which campaigns esp against nuclear power and dumping, and also whaling

green pepper see under pepper

green plover noun

The lapwing

green pound noun

The agreed value of the pound used to express EU farm prices in sterling and to measure the level of Britain's contribution under the Common Agricultural Policy

green ray see green flash above.

green revolution noun

Agricultural advances in developing countries

green road or green way noun

A grassy country track used by walkers

greenˈroom noun

In a theatre, a room for actors to relax or entertain guests in, etc backstage, traditionally and typically having the walls coloured green

greenˈsand noun

1. A sandstone containing much glauconite
2. (with cap) two divisions (Lower and Upper) of the Cretaceous system, separated by the Gault (geology)

green screen noun

(in film, television, etc) a green-coloured background against which material may be shot for superimposition elsewhere

greenˈ-screen adjective

green seaweeds see green algae above.

greenˈshank noun

A large sandpiper with long, somewhat greenish legs

green shoots plural noun

Signs of regeneration or improvement, as in an economy

green sickness noun

Chlorosis

green snake noun

A harmless colubrine snake common in southern USA

greenˈspeak noun

Ecological jargon, the terminology of green issues, or that used by green activists and supporters

greenstick fracture see under fracture

green stocks plural noun (commerce)

Shares of an organization engaged in combating pollution, or professing to avoid it in the manufacture of its products

greenˈstone noun

1. A vague name for any basic or intermediate igneous rock (geology)
2. Nephrite

greenˈstuff noun

Green vegetables, esp of the cabbage kind

greenˈsward noun (archaic or literary)

Land covered with grass

green tax noun

A tax imposed with the intention of discouraging activities that may damage the environment

green tea noun

Tea made from leaves that have been dried without fermentation and retain a light colour

green turtle noun

A tropical and subtropical sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) with a greenish shell (see turtle¹)

green vitriol noun

Ferrous sulphate

greenˈwash noun (facetious)

A specious overlay, or ineffectual display, of concern for the environment (also transitive verb)

green way see green road above.

greenˈweed noun

A name given to certain half-shrubby species of Genista

green-wellˈie adjective

Of, belonging to or relating to the British upper-class country-dwelling set (represented stereotypically as wearing a certain kind of heavy green wellingtons)

greenˈwood noun

A leafy wood or forest (also adjective)

green woodpecker noun

A Eurasian woodpecker (Picus viridis), having green plumage with a red crown

green about the gills (informal)

Looking or feeling sick

something green in one's eye (informal)

A sign that one is gullible