green

Etymology

From Middle English grene, from Old English grēne, from Proto-Germanic *grōniz (compare West Frisian grien, Dutch groen, Low German grön, green, greun, German grün, Swedish grön, Danish and Norwegian Nynorsk grøn, Norwegian Bokmål grønn), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- (“to grow”). More at grow.

Pronunciation

• (UK, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ɡɹiːn/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ɡɹin/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːn

Adjective

green (comparative greener, superlative greenest)

1. Having green as its color.

   The former flag of Libya is completely green.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 8, in The Celebrity:

     The day was cool and snappy for August, and the Rise all green with a lavish nature. Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet: […] .

2. (figuratively, of people) Sickly, unwell.

   Sally looks pretty green — is she going to be sick?

   • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

     to look so green and pale

3. Unripe, said of certain fruits that change color when they ripen.
4. (figuratively, of people) Inexperienced.

   John's kind of green, so take it easy on him this first week.

   • Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)

     I might be angry with the officious zeal which supposes that its green conceptions can instruct my grey hairs.

5. (figuratively, of people) Naïve or unaware of obvious facts.
6. (figuratively, of people) Overcome with envy.

   He was green with envy.

7. (figuratively) Environmentally friendly.
   • 2013 May 10, Audrey Garric, “Urban canopies let nature bloom”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 22, page 30:

     As towns continue to grow, replanting vegetation has become a form of urban utopia and green roofs are spreading fast. Last year 1m square metres of plant-covered roofing was built in France, as much as in the US, and 10 times more than in Germany, the pioneer in this field.

8. (cricket) Describing a pitch which, even if there is no visible grass, still contains a significant amount of moisture.
9. (dated) Of bacon or similar smallgoods: unprocessed, raw, unsmoked; not smoked or spiced.^[1]
10. (dated) Not fully roasted; half raw.
    • Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

      We say the meat is green when half roasted.

11. Of freshly cut wood or lumber that has not been dried: containing moisture and therefore relatively more flexible or springy.

    That timber is still too green to be used.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

12. (wine) High or too high in acidity.
13. Full of life and vigour; fresh and vigorous; new; recent.

    a green manhood;   a green wound

    • Edmund Burke (1729-1797)

      as valid against such an old and beneficent government as against […] the greenest usurpation

14. (Philippines) Having a sexual connotation.
15. (particle physics) Having a color charge of green.

Noun

green (plural greens)

1. The colour of growing foliage, as well as other plant cells containing chlorophyll; the colour between yellow and blue in the visible spectrum; one of the primary additive colour for transmitted light; the colour obtained by subtracting red and blue from white light using cyan and yellow filters.

   green colour:  

2. (politics, sometimes capitalised) A member of a green party; an environmentalist.
   • 2013, Joe Smith, What Do Greens Believe?, →ISBN, page 62:

     How have greens sought to map an ecologically and socially sustainable future for society?

3. (golf) A putting green, the part of a golf course near the hole.
   • 2010, Dan Jenkins, Fairways and Greens, →ISBN, page 233:

     There are eighteen holes but I dare any visitor to find more than, say, twelve fairways and seven or eight greens.

4. (bowls) The surface upon which bowls is played.
5. (snooker) One of the colour balls used in snooker, with a value of 3 points.
6. (Britain) a public patch of land in the middle of a settlement.
7. A grassy plain; a piece of ground covered with verdant herbage.
   • Milton

     o'er the smooth enamelled green

8. (chiefly in the plural) Fresh leaves or branches of trees or other plants; wreaths.
   • Alexander Pope

     In that soft season when descending showers / Call forth the greens, and wake the rising flowers.

9. Any substance or pigment of a green colour.
10. (Britain, slang, uncountable) marijuana.
11. (US, slang, uncountable) Money.
12. (particle physics) One of the three color charges for quarks.

Verb

green (third-person singular simple present greens, present participle greening, simple past and past participle greened)

1. (transitive) To make (something) green, to turn (something) green.
   • Thomson

     Great spring before greened all the year.

2. To become or grow green in colour.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Tennyson to this entry?)

   • Whittier

     by greening slope and singing flood

3. (transitive) To add greenspaces to (a town, etc.).
   • 2000, AIA Guide to New York City (page 58)

     The newer 39-story, 1.5-million-square-foot tower occupies much of the original Shearson Garden, a larger parklet that briefly greened the construction site to be, and is remembered fondly by nearby Tribecans.

4. (intransitive) To become environmentally aware.
5. (transitive) To make (something) environmentally friendly.

See also

Anagrams

• Egner, Geren, genre, neger, regen

Etymology

From English green.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɡriːn]

Noun

green m

1. (slang, golf) green (a putting green; the part of a golf course near the hole)

References

Noun

green c (definite singular greenen, indefinite plural greens, definite plural greenene)

1. (golf) a green, putting green (the closely mown area surrounding each hole on a golf course)

Alternative forms

• gren
• (in some other dialects) gröön (grön)
• (in some other dialects) gräun

Adjective

green

1. (Low Prussian) green

Etymology

From Old Frisian grēne, which derives from Proto-Germanic *grōniz.

Adjective

green

1. (Föhr-Amrum) green

Noun

green m (definite singular greenen, indefinite plural greener, definite plural greenene)

1. (golf) a green, putting green (the closely mown area surrounding each hole on a golf course)

Noun

green m (definite singular greenen, indefinite plural greenar, definite plural greenane)

1. (golf) a green or putting green (the closely mown area surrounding each hole on a golf course)

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -iːn

Noun

green c (definite singular greenen, indefinite plural greener, definite plural greenerna)

1. (golf) a green, putting green (the closely mown area around a hole on a golf course)