N. Lee, Alexander the Great, iv. 2 (1678).
⁂ Slightly altered into When Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war. This line of Nathaniel Lee has become a household phrase.
To play the Greek, to act like a harlot. When Cressid says of Helen, “Then she’s a merry Greek indeed,” she means that Helen is no better than a fille publique. Probably Shakespeare had his eye upon “fair Hiren,” in Peel’s play called The Turkish Mahomet and Hyren the Fair Greek. “A fair Greek” was at one time a euphemism for a courtezan.
Green (Mr. Paddington), clerk at Somerset House.
Mrs. Paddington Green, his wife.—T.M. Morton, If I had a Thousand a Year.
Green (Verdant), a young man of infinite simplicity, who goes to college, and is played upon by all the practical jokers of alma mater. After he has bought his knowledge by experience, the butt becomes the “butter” of juveniles greener than himself. Verdant Green wore spectacles, which won for him the nickname of “Gig-lamps.”—Cuthbert Bede [Rev. Edw. Bradley], Verdant Green (1860).
Green (Widow), a rich, buxom dame of 40, who married first for money, and intended to choose her second husband “to please her vanity.” She fancied Waller loved her, and meant to make her his wife, but Sir William Fondlove was her adorer. When the politic widow discovered that Waller had fixed his love on another, she gave her hand to the old beau, Sir William; for if the news got wind of her love for Waller, she would become the laughing-stock of all her friends.—S. Knowles, The Love-Chase (1837).
Green Bird (The), a bird that told one everything it was asked. An oracular bird, obtained by Fairstar after the failure of Cherry and her two brothers. It was this bird who revealed to the king that Fairstar was his daughter and Cherry his nephew. Comtesse D’Aunoy, Fairy Tales (“Fairstar and Prince Cherry,” 1682).
Green Horse (The), the 5th Dragoon Guards (not the 5th Dragoons). So called from their green velvet facings.
Green Howard, (The), the 19th Foot. So called from the Hon. Charles Howard, their colonel from 1738 to 1748.