greens

1. 1
   nounplural

   The edible leaves and leafy parts of plants such as spinach, kale, or lettuce, prepared as a vegetable or for salad.

   She tossed the greens with a little olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.

   A bowl of crisp greens went perfectly with the grilled fish.

   Similarsalad, leaves

   Note

   Behind the leafy-vegetable sense lies a habit shared across the Germanic languages. Middle English grenes was simply green plus -s, and Dutch groenten, West Frisian grienten and Swedish grönsaker likewise name vegetables after their color. In this sense the word lives in the plural, as in salad greens and collard greens, and a single leaf is never "a green."

2. 2
   nounplural

   Vegetables consisting of edible plants or plant parts that contain chlorophyll.

   The doctor recommended more greens in his daily diet.

   Broccoli, kale, and other greens are packed with nutrients.

   Similarvegetables, veggies

   Note

   Wider than the leafy-vegetable meaning, this one takes in anything green on the plate, even seaweed sold as "ocean greens." It belongs to the talk of nutrition and balanced meals, as in starches, meats, and greens. It also appears in the coaxing phrase get your greens, which Dawn Russell's The 8Greens Cookbook (2017) uses. Like its neighbor, it takes a plural verb: greens don't taste good.

3. 3
   noun

   Plural of green.

   The decorator chose two soft greens for the nursery walls.

   Heavy rain left the greens soggy before the tournament.

   Note

   The ordinary countable plural is quite separate from the plural-only food and decoration senses, because here each green has a singular. Two greens can be shades of the color, putting greens on a golf course, bowling surfaces, or village commons. The same spelling is also a verb form, as in "rain greens the desert," so the grammar of the sentence decides which is meant.

4. 4
   nounplural

   Leafy plants and cut foliage used for decoration, especially around the holidays.

   She wove fresh greens into a wreath for the front door.

   Workers draped greens along the staircase before the wedding.

   Similargreenery, foliage, evergreens, boughs

   Note

   A trade word as well as a holiday one. Growers sell wreaths and greens alongside Christmas trees, and the business has its own vocabulary: tip greens are the new growth at the ends of branches, and wild floral greens have a harvesting season. In everyday speech the word is seasonal, heard most in Christmas greens or Yuletide greens.

5. 5
   nounplural

   The green dress uniform of the United States Marine Corps.

   She wore her greens to the formal evening reception.

   Recruits are taught to keep their greens immaculate.

   Note

   A word from service life, used the way civilians speak of a good suit: one owns, wears and looks after one's greens. It is plural in form but names a single outfit, so it usually comes with a possessive, as in "moths ruined my greens" in The Leatherneck (1991). Outside military talk, context keeps it from being heard as the leafy vegetables.

6. 6
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of green.

   Rain greens the desert after a long dry season.

   The company greens its operations by switching to solar power.

   Note

   The verb works in two directions. Used transitively, it means something greens something else: rain greens the desert, or a council greens a town with parks. Used intransitively, the thing itself turns green, as when a hillside greens in spring. The same split runs through the environmental uses. A company greens its operations, while a person who greens becomes environmentally aware.

Showing meanings only. Show all 6