1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Green-head, subs. (old).—A greenhorn. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Greenhead, s.v., A very raw novice or inexperienced fellow.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Greenhorn (or Green-Head, or Greenlander), subs. (common).—A simpleton; a fool; a gull (q.v.); also a new hand. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head. To come from Greenland = to be fresh to things; raw (q.v.). Greenlander sometimes = an Irishman.
1753. Adventurer, No. 100. A slouch in my gait, a long lank head of hair and an unfashionable suit of drab-coloured cloth, would have denominated me a greenhorn, or in other words, a country put very green.
1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xliv. ‘Why, wha but a crack-brained greenhorn wad hae let them keep up the siller that ye left at the Gordon-Arms?’
1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist. A new pall.… Where did he come from? Greenland.
1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. ix. All these he resigned to lock himself into a lone little country house, with a simple widow and a greenhorn of a son.
Greenhouse, subs. (London ’bus-drivers’).—An omnibus.