GREYBACK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does greyback mean? 

• GREYBACK (noun)
  The noun GREYBACK has 3 senses:

1. 'Johnny' was applied as a nickname for Confederate soldiers by the Federal soldiers in the American Civil War; 'greyback' derived from their grey Confederate uniforms

2. a dowitcher with a grey back

3. a sandpiper that breeds in the Arctic and winters in the southern hemisphere

  Familiarity information: GREYBACK used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GREYBACK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

'Johnny' was applied as a nickname for Confederate soldiers by the Federal soldiers in the American Civil War; 'greyback' derived from their grey Confederate uniforms

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

greyback; Johnny; Johnny Reb; Reb; Rebel

Hypernyms ("greyback" is a kind of...):

Confederate soldier (a soldier in the Army of the Confederacy during the American Civil War)

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A dowitcher with a grey back

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

grayback; greyback; Limnodromus griseus

Hypernyms ("greyback" is a kind of...):

dowitcher (shorebird of the sandpiper family that resembles a snipe)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A sandpiper that breeds in the Arctic and winters in the southern hemisphere

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

Calidris canutus; grayback; greyback; knot

Hypernyms ("greyback" is a kind of...):

sandpiper (any of numerous usually small wading birds having a slender bill and piping call; closely related to the plovers)

Holonyms ("greyback" is a member of...):

Calidris; genus Calidris (a genus of Scolopacidae)