brownback

Noun

brownback (plural brownbacks)

1. A bird, the dowitcher or red-breasted snipe.
   • In the fall and winter I shot in the lagoons and in the harbor of Greytown blue-wing and green-wing teal and gadwalls; also sickle-bill curlews, peeps or least sandpipers, and brownbacks or grass birds.1897, Forest and Stream - Volume 48, page 142
   • Two "brownbacks," as they are known on Cape Cod where these came from, are shown in Figure 36. The one whose head is held forward represents the male in fall plumage — the back slate gray and the breast a cinnamon pink.1974, George Ross Starr, Decoys of the Atlantic flyway, page 88
2. A postage stamp printed in brown ink, used in the 1890s.
   • The color work on the postage stamps will not be new to the bureau. In addition to the work which it has done on proprietary stamps, it has mixed and used every shade of color in its other work. Brown was used on the “brownbacks,” green on the "greenbacks;" different blues on customs stamps and on...1893, The Philatelic Journal of America
   • Of course the printers are not all doing the same kind of work: some are printing the greenbacks, some the brownbacks, some the faces, and others the backs and faces, of the revenue stamps.1894, St. Nicholas - Volume 21, page 221
3. A note of scrip printed on brown paper, such as that issued by the city of St. Louis during a financial crisis.
   • There are greenbacks for one department of the tithing-house, brownbacks for another, and so on. By using this scrip the Church is able to create a market for considerable quantities of the tithing.1889, John Albert Sleicher, Leslie's - Volumes 67-69, page 335
   • These notes were printed on paper the reverse of which was of a brown color, and very soon after their appearance they were nicknamed the brownbacks, and continued to bear this name during the whole time they were in circulation.1896, The American Stationer - Volume 40, page 357