great unwashed
The common people, especially those considered unrefined or uncultured
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Where will you be? Anywhere UK & IrelandUnited StatesOnline slangBusiness jargon
great wits jump
Great minds think alike, tally. Shakespeare says, "It jumps with my humour" (1 Henry IV, iv, 2).
Greater Britain
The whole British Empire, i.e. Great Britain, the Dominions and Colonies.
greater of two evils
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
greatest thing since sliced bread
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
greaze
Offensive and abusive language; contumely.
grecian bend
Modern milliner slang for an exaggerated bustle, the effect of which is generally assisted by unnaturally high-heeled boots.
grecian bend
An affectation in walking with the body stooped slightly forward, assumed by English women in 1868.
greedy guts
A covetous or voracious person.
greek
St. Giles's Greek; the slang lingo, cant, or gibberish.
greek
A wide-awake fellow, a sharper.
Greek arts
Anal sex.
Greek calends
a time that will never come
Greek Calends
Never. To defer anything to the Greek Calends is to defer it sine die. There were no calends in the Greek months. See NEVER.
Greek Church
A name often given in- accurately to the Eastern or Orthodox Church fa.v.) of which the Greek Church is only an autocephalous unit, recognized as independent by the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1850. It is governed by a synod under the presidency of the Archbishop of Athens, and does not differ in any point of doctrine from its parent the Orthodox Church.
Greek fire
A combustible composition used for setting fire to an enemy's ships, fortifica- tions, etc., of nitre, sulphur, and naphtha. Tow steeped in the mixture was hurled in a blazing state through tubes, or tied to arrows. The invention is ascribed to Callinicos, of Heliop- olis, A.D. 668, and it was used by the Greeks at Constantinople.
Greek gift
A treacherous gift. The refer- ence is to the Wooden Horse of Troy (q.vJ), or to Virgil's Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes (&neid, ii, 49), "I fear the Greeks, even when they offer gifts.
greek kalends
An expression signifying an indefinite period; never. Term used in making promises never intended to be carried out. The Greeks had no KALENDS.
Greek legend
They were the sole survivors of the deluge sent by Zeus to destroy the whole human race, and repopulated the world by casting stones behind them which were turned into men.
Greek mythology
She was the daughter of Heaven and Earth (Uranus and Ge). To the Immortals every one A portion was assigned of all that is; But chief Mnemosyne did Maia's son Clothe in the light of his loud melodies. SHELLEY: Homer's Hymn to Mercury, Ixxfii. Moabite Stone, The. An ancient stele^ bearing the oldest extant Semitic inscription, now in the Louvre, Pans.
Greek philosophy
It included Thales, Anaxi- mander, Anaximenes, Heraclitus, and Anaxag- oras; and the great advance they made was the recognition that matter, motion, and physical causation were themselves manifestations of the Absolute Reality.
Greek trust
No trust at all. "Grceca fides" was with the Romans no faith at all.
Greeks and Romans
Pliny says it averted witchcraft, and availed in giving an enemy a shrewder blow.
green
Doctor Green; i.e. grass: a physician, or rather medicine, found very successful in curing most disorders to which horses are liable. My horse is not well, I shall send him to Doctor Green.
green
Ignorant, not wide-awake, inexperienced.—Shakspeare. "Do you see any GREEN in my eye?" ironical question in a dispute.
green about the gills
Feeling nauseous or queasy
green as grass
completely inexperienced or naive
green bag
An attorney: those gentlemen carry their clients' deeds in a green bag; and, it is said, when they have no deeds to carry, frequently fill them with an old pair of breeches, or any other trumpery, to give themselves the appearance of business.
green belt
A stretch of country around a city or large town that has been set aside to be kept open and free from all building except within certain limits.
green fingers
A natural talent for gardening
green gown
To give a girl a green gown; to tumble her on the grass.
green hands
A nautical phrase for inferior sailors. See ABLE-BODIED SEAMAN, and cp. GREENHORN below.
green handshake
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
green in earth
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
green indigo
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Green Linnets
The 39th Foot, so called from the colour of their facings. Now the- Dorsetshire, and the facings are white.
Green Man
This common public-house sign probably represents either a Jack-in-the-Greerr (#.v.), or a game-keeper, who used at one time- to be dressed m green.
Green Mountain Boys
Men of Vermont, U.S.A. — a term m use since 1775. Vermont, or Vert Mont, so called from its forest-covered mountains, was formed from the states of New Hampshire and New York in 1777, largely through the action of its farmers who agitated for an independent state of their own, and were called the Green Mountain Boys.
green oil
Petroleum.
green old age
a healthy and active old age
green room
The common waiting-room beyond the stage at a theatre for the performers ; so called because at one time the walls were coloured green to relieve the eyes affected by the glare of the stage lights.
green sickness
The disease of maids occasioned by celibacy.
green state
a state of being environmentally friendly
green stuff
Money.
green thumb
A natural ability to grow plants
green wax
In old legal practice an estreat (certified extract from an official record> formerly delivered to the sheriff by the Ex- chequer for levy. It was under the seal of the court, which was impressed upon green wax.
green-horn
A fresh, simple, or uninitiated person.
greenbacks
The paper money issued in the United States during the war. The term was at first applied only to the notes for small amounts, which were backed with green, but eventually the one word represented all descriptions of what is now known in America as "currency."
greener pastures
Better opportunities or situations elsewhere
greenery
Marijuana.
greene’s
(Robert) Notable Discovery of Coosnage, now daily practised by sundry lewd persons called Conie-catchers and Crosse-biters. Plainly laying open those pernitious sleights that hath brought many ignorant men to confusion. Written for the general benefit of all Gentlemen, Citizens, Apprentices, Country Farmers, and Yeomen, that may hap to fall into the company of such coosening companions. With a delightful discourse of the coosnage of Colliers, 4to, with woodcuts. Printed by John Wolfe, 1591.
greenhead
An inexperienced young man.
greenhorn
A novice on the town, an undebauched young fellow, just initiated into the society of bucks and bloods.
greenlander
An inexperienced person, a spoon. Sometimes an Irishman.
greenwich barbers
Retailers of sand from the pits at and about Greenwich, in Kent: perhaps they are styled barbers, from their constant shaving the sandbanks.
greenwich barbers
Retailers of sand; so called because the inhabitants of Greenwich used to "shave the pits" in the neighbourhood to supply London with sand.
greenwich stars
The stars used by astrono- mers for the lunar computations in the nautical ephemeris.
greenwich time
Mean time for the meridian of Greenwich, i.e.
gregarian chant
Plain-song; a mediaeval system of church music, so called because it was introduced into the service by Gregory the Great (600).
Gregorian Epoch
The epoch or day on which the Gregorian calendar commenced in October, 1582.
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