greenhorn adj.
1. novice.
![]() | ‘A Man of War’ in | II (1979) 168: There’s green-horn fellows, some on board / Before ne’er saw salt water.|
![]() | Morn. Chron. 17 Aug. 3/5: He derived his support from the rent of his room, and the precarious bounty of ‘green horn’ prisoners. | |
![]() | Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 20 Feb. 1/4: Back they brings the green horn Johnny, / Always get him, don’t you fret. | |
![]() | In For Life 24: I was collecting what looked to my greenhorn eyes like a million dollars. | |
![]() | (con. 1960s) Tripmaster Monkey 23: Was he hearing English wrong like any greenhorn F.O.B.? | |
![]() | Where Dead Voices Gather (ms.) 269: It was these Sicilian words that were commonly used to describe the work-bosses who lured their greenhorn paesani into servitude in New York City in the early years of the twentieth century. |
2. virginal.
![]() | Alice in La-La Land (1999) 144: What was she doing with a skinny, greenhorn faggot like that baby-faced schmuck anyhow? |