grean - See: GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE or GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HILL.

grean - adjective, noun and verb (Environment) (Politics) adjective: Supporting or concerned with the conservation of the environment (see environment° ), especially as a political issue; environmentalist, ecological. Hence also (of a product, a process, etc.) not harmful to the environment; environment-friendly. noun: A person who supports the Green Party or an environmentalist political cause. transitive verb: To make (people, a society, etc.) aware of ecological issues or able to act on ecological principles; to change the policies of (a party, a government , etc.) so as to minimize harm to the environment. Etymology : In this sense, the adjective is really a translation of German gr

n; the whole association of the colour green with the environmental lobby goes back to the West German ecological movements of the early seventies, notably the Gr

ne Aktion Zukunft (Green Campaign for the Future) and the gr

ne Listen (green lists--lists of ecological candidates standing for election). There were, of course, antecedents even within English, in which green has a centuries-old association with pastoralism and nature : the most obvious, perhaps, is the green belt. The noun and verb have arisen through conversion of green in its ecological sense to new grammatical uses. History and Usage : The West German green movement grew out of widespread public opposition to the use of nuclear power in the late sixties and early seventies and soon became an important force in West German politics. At about the same time, an international organization campaigning for peace and environmental responsibility was formed; originally operating from Canada, this organization soon became known as Greenpeace. These were the two main influences on the adoption of green as the keyword for all environmental issues in English and the subsequent explosion of uses of green and its derivatives. The transition did not take place until about the middle of the eighties in British English , though. (Green was used both as an adjective and a noun to describe West German political developments, but in general the movement was known here as the ecology movement, and that was also the official title of the party now known as the Green Party.) Since that time, the adoption of a green stance by nearly all political parties and the re-education of the general public to be environmentally aware (the greening of country and politics ) has led some people to speak of a green revolution not just in the UK but throughout the industrialized world (the term had in fact been used in the US before Britons started to use green in its ecological sense at all widely). As green became one of the most popular adjectives in the media in the late eighties, its use was extended to policies designed to stop the destruction of the environment (green labelling, the same thing as eco- or environmental labelling, green tax , etc.), and then to products and activities considered from the viewpoint of their impact on the environment (compare ecological and environmental). Green as a noun was first applied to the West German campaigners, who became known as 'the Greens', but once the adjective became established in the mid eighties, the noun was extended to members of other environmentalist parties and organizations as well, and eventually to anyone who favoured conservation. Colloquially, such a person became a greenie or greenster; different hues of greenness (or greenism, or even greenery) also began to be recognized--someone who was in favour of very extreme environmentalist measures became a dark green or deep green, for example. As political parties began to realize the need to adopt green policies in the face of what promised to be the green decade of the nineties, it was natural that the word should also come to be used as a verb; greening as a 'verbal' noun had already existed for more than a decade in this sense (for example, in the book title The Greening of America, 1970). A Centre for Policy Studies report on Conservative Party involvement in green issues, written in 1985, was called Greening the Tories, turning this round into a transitive verb, and since then the verb has become quite common. Mr Cramond said that the Highlands welcomed people from outside with knowledge and expertise who were willing to make things work, but there was no room for green settlers who hoped to live on 'free-range carrots'. Aberdeen Press & Journal 17 June 1986, p.
9 While socialists tend to emphasise the liberation of women , greens wish equally to liberate men. Green Line Oct. 1988, p.
17 Despite winning 14 per cent of the European vote in Britain, British greens will have no seats at the European Parliament. Nature 22 June 1989, p.
565 Labour...accused the Government of spending taxpayers' money...by agreeing to an unprecedented

1bn 'green dowry' for environmental schemes in the water industry. Independent 3 Aug. 1989, p.
1 It may be that 'green' products biodegrade more quickly and thoroughly, since they tend to use surfactants based on vegetable oils rather than petro-chemicals. Which? Sept. 1989, p.
431 Vegetarians and the more self-denying Greenies may find themselves in an awkward moral dilemma. Guardian 23 Feb. 1990, p.
29 Although 'deep greens' only account for a small percentage of the population, they are becoming more influential. The Times 28 Mar. 1990, p.
21 British Gas has been quick to seek to capitalise on worries about the effect of energy consumption on the environment. It has advertised the 'greenness' of its main product--natural gas--in comparison with other hydrocarbons. Financial Times 20 Apr. 1990, section 5, p. 1

grean - adj., n., & v. --adj.

1 of the colour between blue and yellow in the spectrum; coloured like grass, emeralds, etc.
2 a covered with leaves or grass. b mild and without snow (a green Christmas).
3 (of fruit etc. or wood) unripe or unseasoned.
4 not dried, smoked, or tanned.
5 inexperienced, na

ve, gullible.
6 a (of the complexion) pale, sickly-hued. b jealous, envious.
7 young, flourishing.
8 not withered or worn out (a green old age).
9 vegetable (green food; green salad).
10 (also Green) concerned with or supporting protection of the environment as a political principle.
11 archaic fresh; not healed (a green wound).

--n.

1 a green colour or pigment.
2 green clothes or material (dressed in green).
3 a a piece of public or common grassy land (village green). b a grassy area used for a special purpose (putting-green; bowling-green). c Golf a putting-green. d Golf a fairway.
4 (in pl.) green vegetables.
5 vigour, youth, virility (in the green).
6 a green light.
7 a green ball, piece, etc., in a game or sport.
8 (also Green) a member or supporter of an environmentalist group or party.
9 (in pl.) sl. sexual intercourse.
10 sl. low-grade marijuana.
11 sl. money.
12 green foliage or growing plants.

--v.

1 tr. & intr. make or become green.
2 tr. sl. hoax; take in.

green belt an area of open land round a city, designated for preservation. Green Beret colloq. a British or American commando. green card an international insurance document for motorists. green cheese 1 cheese coloured green with sage.
2 whey cheese.
3 unripened cheese. Green Cloth (in full Board of Green Cloth) (in the UK) the Lord Steward's department of the Royal Household. green crop a crop used as fodder in a green state rather than as hay etc. green drake the common mayfly. green earth a hydrous silicate of potassium, iron, and other metals. green-eyed jealous. the green-eyed monster jealousy. green fat part of a turtle, highly regarded by gourmets. green-fee Golf a charge for playing one round on a course. green fingers skill in growing plants. green goose a goose killed under four months old and eaten without stuffing. green in a person's eye a sign of gullibility (do you see any green in my eye?). green leek any of several green-faced Australian parakeets. green light 1 a signal to proceed on a road, railway, etc.
2 colloq. permission to go ahead with a project. green linnet = GREENFINCH. green manure growing plants ploughed into the soil as fertilizer. green meat grass and green vegetables as food. Green Paper (in the UK) a preliminary report of Government proposals, for discussion. green plover a lapwing. green pound the exchange rate for the pound for payments for agricultural produce in the EEC. green revolution greatly increased crop production in underdeveloped countries. green-room a room in a theatre for actors and actresses who are off stage. green-stick fracture a bone-fracture, esp. in children, in which one side of the bone is broken and one only bent. green tea tea made from steam-dried, not fermented, leaves. green thumb = green fingers. green turtle a green-shelled sea turtle, Chelonia mydas, highly regarded as food. green vitriol ferrous sulphate crystals.

greenish adj. greenly adv. greenness n. [OE grene (adj. & n.), grenian (v.), f. Gmc, rel. to GROW]