brownbacks

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
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
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