Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) money, paper money, esp. in large amounts; also attrib.

1887		G. Devol Forty Years a Gambler 159: He had lots of the long green stuff.
1893		Independent (Footscray, Vic.) 7 Jan. 2/8: Here you are — forty in the long green.
1895		E. Townsend Chimmie Fadden Explains 93: I never put up a bean; never showed de color of de long green onct.
1903		‘Hugh McHugh’ Out for the Coin 22: I wouldn’t trot to the track again, even if I could drag the long green away in a dray.
1908		Pittsburgh Dispatch 20 Sept. in Fleming Unforgettable Season (1981) 234: Gates was willing to bet all kinds of the long green stuff.
1919		B. Link That Little Game 17 Dec. [synd. cartoon] Some ordinary looking male individuals always have a roll of the glorious long green.
1928		M.C. Sharpe Chicago May (1929) 44: The heads of all police departments, especially that of Scotland Yard, are very difficult to bribe with money; but the long-green helps with the underlings.
1936		(ref. to 1920s) L. Duncan Over the Wall 109: I prowled quite a respectable joint where I got [...] a few bucks of the filthy long green.
1944		C.B. Davis Rebellion of Leo McGuire (1953) 87: The old son-of-a-bitch left us a stack of new long green.
1951		M. Spillane Long Wait (1954) 160: What Makes Johnny Run? Nearly like the title of a book. He had good reason to. A long green reason or a long bloody reason.
1967		(con. 1920s) J. Thompson South of Heaven (1994) 117: Flash a little of the long green.
1977		A. Brooke Last Toke 95: So why you wanna go messin’ up that nice long green we got comin’.
1988		D. Woodrell Muscle for the Wing 177: She says he’s playin’ for the long green, big money.
2008		T. Piccirilli Fever Kill 27: Is that what she thought the long green got you? Pinky rings?
2012		T. Piccirilli Last Kind Words 43: Mal and Grey’s banter [...] was quick and fun but with a slight angry undertone, the way the best long green chatter is played out.