See also: Greens

English

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anubi lettuce, one of the many salad greens

Pronunciation

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  • enPR: grēnz, IPA(key): /ɡɹiːnz/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -iːnz

Etymology 1

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From Middle English grenes, equivalent to green +‎ -s. Compare Saterland Frisian Gräinieten (vegetable), West Frisian grienten (vegetables, greens), Dutch groenten (vegetables, greens), German Low German Gröönten (vegetables, greens), Danish grøntsager (vegetables), Swedish grönsaker (vegetables).

Noun

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greens pl (plural only)

  1. Leaves and leaf-like parts of edible plants when eaten as vegetables or in salads.
    salad greens
    collard greens
    • 2009, Charlie Nardozzi, Vegetable Gardening For Dummies, →ISBN, page 137:
      If you're a beginning gardener and have never grown a vegetable in your life before, try greens. You'll find no easier group of vegetables to grow than greens.
    • 2011, Lorraine Grant, Everyday Comfort Foods with Family and Friends, page 52:
      Collard Greens are my favorite greens!
    • 2017, Mia Wasilevich, Ugly Little Greens: Gourmet Dishes Crafted From Foraged Ingredients, →ISBN:
      Throughout the winter and spring, a variety of little greens shoot up that are the staples of a harvested salad.
    • 2017, Jenn Louis, Kathleen Squires, The Book of Greens: A Cook's Compendium, →ISBN, page 2:
      So, here's the deal: greens should be an essential part of every meal. And by greens I mean leafy greens, leaves on plants (such as tomato leaves), and herbs.
  2. Green vegetables; edible plants or plant parts that contain chlorophyll.
    starches, meats, and greens
    • 2006, Ron Carter, Just Soul Food II-Greens/Holy Spirit's Love-Christ's Cross, →ISBN, page 102:
      Greens are the most basic and prevalent life form on the planet. In the waters, the greens are represented in large and microscopic plant life such as phytoplankton, which grow abundantly in oceans around the world and are the foundation of the marine food chain. On land, the greens can be represented in many green plants and tree foliage with access to sunlight and water. They all contain the pigment chlorophyll for photosynthesis.
    • 2016, Lisette Kreischer, Marcel Schuttelaar, Ocean Greens: Explore the World of Edible Seaweed and Sea Vegetables., →ISBN:
      Seaweed is delicious, and now that you've fallen in love with these ocean greens, you likely can't wait to polish off multiple bowlfuls each day.
    • 2017, Dawn Russell, The 8Greens Cookbook: The Simple Way to Get Your Greens, →ISBN:
      91% of Americans don't eat the recommended daily intake of green vegetables. This is a combination of the challenge of time, budget and the perception most of us picked up as kids that greens don't taste good.
    • 2017, Zita Steyn, Eat More Greens: The Most Inventive Recipes to Help You Eat More Greens, →ISBN:
      We know we should eat more greens, but we so easily get stuck in a rut and just steam some broccoli or green beans, time and time again
  3. Leafy plants that are used for decoration.
    Coordinate terms: garland, wreath
    Yuletide greens
    • 1989, Lewis Hill, Christmas Trees: Growing and Selling Trees, Wreaths, and Greens, →ISBN:
      Tip greens - the new growth at the ends of branches - are often harvested either for the wholesale or retail market, or for one's own processing.
    • 2003, Kathryn A. Lynch, Rebecca J. McLain, Access, Labor, and Wild Floral Greens Management in Western Washington's Forests, →ISBN, page 10:
      In phase II, we carried out the field portion of the study during two consecutive weeks in April 2002, a time that coincided with the end of the spring floral greens havesting season for that year.
    • 2007, Alice Hale Burnett, Christmas Holidays at Merryvale: The Merryvale Boys, →ISBN:
      "We're going for Christmas greens and Dad's going to cut our tree from away up on the hillside," Toad told him, "and," he added, "we're going to take one of the horses with us to drag it home.
  4. (military) The green dress uniform of the United States Marine Corps.
    Coordinate terms: blues, camo, fatigues, khaki
    • 1991, The Leatherneck, volume 74:
      Some years ago, moths ruined my greens, and my son, a career Army man, sensed my loss.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Noun

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greens

  1. plural of green

Etymology 2

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From green (verb).

Verb

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greens

  1. third-person singular simple present indicative of green

References

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Anagrams

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Danish

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Noun

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greens c

  1. indefinite plural of green

Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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greens

  1. plural of green

Spanish

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Noun

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greens m pl

  1. plural of green