English Synonyms.—Black box; bramble (provincial); devil's own; gentleman of the long robe; land-shark; limb of the law; mouth-piece; Philadelphia lawyer (q.v.); quitam; six-and-eightpence; snipe; sublime rascal.
French Synonyms. Un bavard (pop. = a talker or mouthpiece); un blanchisseur (= white-*washer); un brodancheur à la plaque, aux macarons, or à la cymbale (thieves': a notary-public); un gerbier (thieves'); un grippemini (obsolete: grippeminaud = thief); un inutile (thieves': a notary-public); une éponge d'or (= a sucker-up of gold: in allusion to the long bills); un macaron huissier (popular).
Italian Synonyms.—Dragon del gran soprano; dragonetto (= a dragon, or suck-all).
Spanish Synonyms.—Remedio (= a remedy); la letraderia (= a body or society of lawyers); cataribera (jocular).
Green-Bonnet, to have (or
wear) a green bonnet, verb.
phr. (common).—To fail in
business; to go bankrupt. [From
the green cloth cap once worn
by bankrupts.]
Green Cheese. See Cream
Cheese and Moon.
Green Cloth. See Board of
Green Cloth.
Green Dragoons, subs. (military).—The
fifth Dragoon Guards;
also known as the Green Horse.
[From their green facings.]
Greener, subs. (common).—A
new, or raw hand; specifically
employed of inexperienced workmen
introduced to fill the place
of strikers; Dung (q.v.). Cf.,
Flint. For synonyms, see
Snooker.
1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 14 Oct., p. 6, c. 3. A howling mob of Hebrew men and women . . . in their own Yiddish jargon criticised the new arrivals, or greeners, in language that was anything but complimentary.
Green-Goods, subs. (American).—1.
Counterfeit greenbacks.
1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody of Nowhere, p. 223. In his opinion Stillman Myth, and Co., were in the green goods business.
2. (venery).—A prostitute new to the town.; a fresh bit (q.v.).
Green-goods Man (or
Operator), subs. (American).—1.
A counterfeiter of spurious
greenbacks; a Snide-pitcher
(q.v.).
1888. Troy Daily Times, 3 Feb. Driscoll was hung, but the green goods-*man escaped, for the only proof against him was that he sold a quantity of paper cut in the shape of bills, and done up in packages of that size.
2. (venery).—A Fresh Bit (q.v.) fancier. Also an amateur of defloration; a minotaur(q.v.).
Green-goose, subs. (old).—1.
A cuckold.
2. (old).—A prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.
1594. Shakspeare, Love's Labour Lost, iv., 3. This is the liver vein, which makes flesh a deity; A green goose, a goddess, pure, pure idolatry.
1607. Beaumont and Fletcher, Woman Hater, i., 2. His palace is full of green geese.
Green-gown. To give a green-gown,
verb. phr. (old).—To
tumble a woman on the grass;
to copulate. For synonyms, see
Greens and Ride.
