1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 23 Jan. ‘Well, s’elp me greens,’ he cried, wiping his eyes and panting for breath, ‘if you arn’t the greatest treat I ever did meet; you’ll be the death o’ me, Juggins, you will. Why, you bloomin’ idiot, d’ye think if they had’nt been rogues we should have been able to bribe ’em?’ Just for greens, adv. phr. (American).—See quot. 1848. Jones, Sketches of Travel, p. 7. I’ve made up my mind to make a tower of travel to the big North this summer, jest for greens, as we say in Georgia, when we hain’t got no very pertickeler reason for anything, or hain’t got time to tell the real one. Green-apron, subs. (old).—A lay preacher. Also adjectively. For synonyms, see Devil-Dodger and Sky-Pilot. 1654. Warren, Unbelievers, 145. It more befits a green-apron preacher, than such a Gamaliel. 1705. Hickeringill, Priestcraft, I. (1721) 21. Unbeneficed Noncons. (that live by Alms and no Paternoster, no Penny, say the green-aprons). 1765. Tucker, Lt. Nat., II., 451. The gifted priestess amongst the Quaker is known by her green apron. Green-back, subs. (common).—1. A frog. 2. (University).—One of Todhunter’s series of mathematical text-books. (Because bound in green cloth. Cf., Blue-ruin.) 3. (American).—The paper issue of the Treasury of the United States; first sent out in 1862 during the civil war. [From the backs being printed in green.] Hence green-backer = an advocate for an unlimited issue or paper money. 1873. Echo, 8 May. This was accomplished by the issue of legal tender notes, popularly known as greenbacks. 1877. Clemens, Life on the Mississippi, ch. lvii., p. 499. Anything in the semblance of a town lot, no matter how situated, was saleable, and at a figure which would still have been high if the ground had been sodded with greenbacks. 1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody of Nowhere, p. 228. Gussie can hear the crinkle of the greenbacks as he folds them up. Green Bag, subs. (old).—A lawyer. [From the green bag in which robes and briefs were carried. The colour is now blue, or, in cases of presentation from seniors to juniors, red.] 1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. 1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. English Synonyms.—Black box; bramble (provincial); devil’s own; gentleman of the long robe; land-shark; limb of the law; mouth-piece; Philadelphia lawyer (q.v.); quitam; six-and-eightpence; snipe; sublime rascal. French Synonyms. Un bavard (pop. = a talker or mouthpiece); un blanchisseur (= whitewasher); un brodancheur à la plaque, aux macarons, or à la cymbale (thieves’: a notary-public); un gerbier (thieves’); un grippemini (obsolete: grippeminaud = thief); un inutile (thieves’: a notary-public); une éponge d’or (= a sucker-up of gold: in allusion to the long bills); un macaron huissier (popular). Italian Synonyms.—Dragon del gran soprano; dragonetto (= a dragon, or suck-all).