Green’s Dictionary of Slang

greenhorn adj.

[greenhorn n.]

1. novice.

[UK] ‘A Man of War’ in Holloway & Black II (1979) 168: There’s green-horn fellows, some on board / Before ne’er saw salt water.
[UK]Morn. Chron. 17 Aug. 3/5: He derived his support from the rent of his room, and the precarious bounty of ‘green horn’ prisoners.
[Aus]Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 20 Feb. 1/4: Back they brings the green horn Johnny, / Always get him, don’t you fret.
[US]T. Runyon In For Life 24: I was collecting what looked to my greenhorn eyes like a million dollars.
[US](con. 1960s) M. Kingston Tripmaster Monkey 23: Was he hearing English wrong like any greenhorn F.O.B.?
[US]N. Tosches 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.

[US]R. Campbell Alice in La-La Land (1999) 144: What was she doing with a skinny, greenhorn faggot like that baby-faced schmuck anyhow?