Word.ws English Dictionary

greeney

greeney is the dated form of greenie.

greeney is the alternative form of greeny.

Meaning of greenie

Noun

greenie (plural greenies)

  1. (Australia, New Zealand, derogatory, slang) An environmentalist, someone who shows concern for the environment; often aimed at environmental extremists.
    • People ask me if am I a greenie and I go, ‘No, not in the sense that I chain myself to trees, no I′m not. But in the sense that I am concerned about the environment and do my little bit to help, then yes I am.’2000, Australian Association for Environmental Education, Australian Journal of Environmental Education, volumes 15-17, page 73
    Synonyms:
    tree hugger
  2. (Australian, broadly, informal) A member of the Australian Greens.
  3. (US, derogatory, slang, Wyoming) A person from Colorado; after the color of the Colorado license plate.
    • At Alcova, the problem is compounded for the fool or fools when they have greenie license plates and behave like tourists. The growing combative presence in their rear is chalk full of true Wyoming grit.2007, James Prosek, Joseph Furia, Steven Hayhurst, Joseph Kingsbery, Tight Lines: Ten Years of the Yale Anglers′ Journal, page 140
  4. (informal) An unripe fruit.
    • In every kitchen arises the acrid tang of green- tomato pickle, chutney, chili; on every south-facing kitchen windowsill the most promising greenies line up to be coaxed ripe.1987, Maxine Kumin, In deep: country essays, page 98
  5. (US, slang) A beginner, a novice; a greenhorn.
    • […]“When the teacher says ‘Good Morning,’ you say, ‘Fuck You.’ That′s what you say in America.” Sometimes they varied this with “son of a bitch.” Sure enough the greenie parroted these instructions to the merriment of the classroom.1969, Harry Golden, The Right Time: An Autobiography, page 45
    Synonyms:
    greenhorn, tyro
  6. (informal) A small, green object.
    • He dropped the emerald studs into Abbey's palm and said, “Those little greenies are worth more than diamonds.”2014, Carl Hiaasen, Carl Hiaasen Collection: Hoot, Flush, Scat, Chomp

See all 17 meanings of greenie

Meaning of greeny

Adjective

greeny (comparative greenier, superlative greeniest)

  1. greenish; somewhat green
    • When we get them off their guard we have got to paint that red 'T' the greeniest green that ever came out of a greenhouse.1928 October, Boys' Life, page 15

See all 3 meanings of greeny

Forms of greeney

Noun
pluralgreeneys
Adjective
comparativemore greeney
superlativemost greeney

Questions about greeney

What is greeney the dated form of?
Greeney is the dated form of greenie.

Words near greeney in the dictionary

  1. greenette
  2. greenettes
  3. Greeneville
  4. greenewood
  5. greenewoods
  6. greeney
  7. greeneye
  8. greeneyes
  9. greeneys
  10. greenfaced
  11. Greenfaulds

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: greeney (page history and authors); greenie (page history and authors); greeny (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “greeney.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/greeney. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.