green water

Noun

green water (usually uncountable, plural green waters)

1. (usually) A large quantity of water on a ship's deck as a result of massive waves during a large storm.
   • “When green water started coming over the flight deck, you knew you were in water. The smaller ships like the destroyers and stuff had a terrible time. When a carrier takes green water that’s a good sixty feet above the water if not more, and its rough.” James Spence WWII Veteran describing June 5...
2. (usually) Water, mostly from rain, that replenishes the water lost by evaporation or respiration from forests.
3. (countable, sometimes, usually) Water that has been colored green by the presence of algae or other organic matter.
4. (countable, sometimes, usually) The waters, inshore, coastal, on the continental shelf, of non-abyssal basins, in the oceans.