—adj.
1 of the colour between blue and yellow in the spectrum; coloured like grass, emeralds, etc.
2 a covered with leaves or grass. b mild and without snow (a green Christmas).
3 (of fruit etc. or wood) unripe or unseasoned.
4 not dried, smoked, or tanned.
5 inexperienced, naiumlve, gullible.
6 a (of the complexion) pale, sickly-hued. b jealous, envious.
7 young, flourishing.
8 not withered or worn out (a green old age).
9 vegetable (green food; green salad).
10 (also Green) concerned with or supporting protection of the environment as a political principle.
11 archaic fresh; not healed (a green wound).
—n.
1 a green colour or pigment.
2 green clothes or material (dressed in green).
3 a a piece of public or common grassy land (village green). b a grassy area used for a special purpose (putting-green; bowling-green). c Golf a putting-green. d Golf a fairway.
4 (in pl.) green vegetables.
5 vigour, youth, virility (in the green).
6 a green light.
7 a green ball, piece, etc., in a game or sport.
8 (also Green) a member or supporter of an environmentalist group or party.
9 (in pl.) sl. sexual intercourse.
10 sl. low-grade marijuana.
11 sl. money.
12 green foliage or growing plants.
—v.
1 tr. & intr. make or become green.
2 tr. sl. hoax; take in.
Phrases and idioms:
green belt an area of open land round a city, designated for preservation. Green Beret colloq. a British or American commando. green card an international insurance document for motorists. green cheese
1 cheese coloured green with sage.
2 whey cheese.
3 unripened cheese. Green Cloth (in full Board of Green Cloth) (in the UK) the Lord Steward's department of the Royal Household. green crop a crop used as fodder in a green state rather than as hay etc. green drake the common mayfly. green earth a hydrous silicate of potassium, iron, and other metals. green-eyed jealous. the green-eyed monster jealousy. green fat part of a turtle, highly regarded by gourmets. green-fee Golf a charge for playing one round on a course. green fingers skill in growing plants. green goose a goose killed under four months old and eaten without stuffing. green in a person's eye a sign of gullibility (do you see any green in my eye?). green leek any of several green-faced Australian parakeets. green light 1 a signal to proceed on a road, railway, etc.
2 colloq. permission to go ahead with a project. green linnet = GREENFINCH. green manure growing plants ploughed into the soil as fertilizer. green meat grass and green vegetables as food. Green Paper (in the UK) a preliminary report of Government proposals, for discussion. green plover a lapwing. green pound the exchange rate for the pound for payments for agricultural produce in the EEC. green revolution greatly increased crop production in underdeveloped countries. green-room a room in a theatre for actors and actresses who are off stage. green-stick fracture a bone-fracture, esp. in children, in which one side of the bone is broken and one only bent. green tea tea made from steam-dried, not fermented, leaves. green thumb = green fingers. green turtle a green-shelled sea turtle, Chelonia mydas, highly regarded as food. green vitriol ferrous sulphate crystals.
Derivatives:
greenish adj. greenly adv. greenness n.
Etymology: OE grene (adj. & n.), grenian (v.), f. Gmc, rel. to GROW
Useful english dictionary. 2012.