greenback means any bill that is legal tender in the US (originally printed with green and black ink) issued by the Federal Reserve. It carries an Arena rating of 1433, earned across 10 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, greenback ranks #865 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #3,512 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #4,156 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #6,406 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words.
Why “greenback” is a great word
A United States banknote, particularly one first issued as fiat currency during the Civil War and distinguished by the green ink on its reverse, now a colloquial term for all U.S. paper money. The word is a compound of *green*, for the color of the ink used, and *back*, for the reverse side of the bill, first attested in 1862 during the American Civil War. Unlike 'specie' (which denotes the tangible heft of minted metal) or a 'gold certificate' (a paper promise redeemable for a fixed weight of precious metal), the greenback was, from its birth, a pact of pure faith—worth only what the nation said it was. It is the crisp, vegetal scent of new bills in a payroll envelope, the soft, worn texture of a dollar passed from hand to hand, and the stark green Treasury seal stamped on a promise backed only by the future; a gamble printed on rag paper that a country would endure to give it value.
Etymology
From green + back.
noun
- Any bill that is legal tender in the US (originally printed with green and black ink) issued by the Federal Reserve.
- The United States dollar.
- A unit of American currency issued during the Civil War by the Treasury Department.
- A wave that has not yet begun to break.e.g.“When the surfer has passed the point where the waves are breaking, and is among the waves which are known as “greenbacks”, he may either dive through them or float over them, […]” — 1965, John Bloomfield, Know-how in the Surf, page 28:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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