See Also: Greek(2)(dictionary)
Greek law(encyclopedia)
un-Greek(dictionary)
Greek(1)(dictionary)
greek(medicine)
Greek doctor(health)
Greek religion(encyclopedia)
Maximus the Greek(encyclopedia)
Greek 1, adjective(dictionary)
Greek 2, noun(dictionary)

Greek(1) (iou)



Greek noun & adjective. [gri:k]
[Old English Grecas pl. (so for the most part until 16) corresp. to Middle Low German Greke, Middle Dutch Grieke, German Grieche, Old Norse Grikkir pl., of which the earliest forms are Old English Crecas, Old High German Chrech, Gothic Kreks, from Germanic from Latin Graecus (applied by the Romans to the people who called themselves Hellenes (see HELLENE)) from Greek Graikos adjective (according to Aristotle a prehistoric name of the Hellenes).]
A. noun.
I. A person.
A native or inhabitant of Greece, a country in SE Europe occupied by Greek-speaking peoples since about 2000 BC; a person of Greek descent. OE.
A member or adherent of the Greek Orthodox Church. LME.
= GRECIAN noun 1b. LME-L17.
A cunning or wily person; a cheat, a card-sharper. arch. E16.
Thackeray He was an adventurer, a pauper, a blackleg, a regular Greek.
In full merry Greek, mad Greek, gay Greek. A roisterer; a dissolute person. Long rare. M16.
An Irish person. slang. E19.
II. [absol. use of the adjective.] Language.
The language of Greece or the Greeks, a member of the Hellenic branch of the Indo-European language family; spec. Ancient Greek (see ancient Greek (a) below). OE.
L. Durrell I asked in Greek and was answered in English.
Unintelligible speech or language, gibberish. E17.
Dickens I am a stranger and this is Greek to me.
b. adjective. [Infl. by Latin Graecus, French grec adjectives.]
Of or pertaining to Greece or its inhabitants; native to or originating in Greece; characteristic of or attributed to Greece or the Greeks; spec. ancient Greek (see ancient Greek (b) below). LME.
Belonging to, written in, or spoken in the language of Greece. M16.
Milton Wretched barbarizing against the Latin and Greek idiom, with their untutored Anglicisms.
Designating or pertaining to the national church of Greece, the Greek Orthodox Church. M16.
Special collocations & phrases: ancient Greek (a) (also Ancient Greek) (of or pertaining to) the earliest form of Greek, consisting of the Aeolic, Arcadic, Doric, and Ionic (including Attic) dialects, and surviving until about 300 BC; (b) of or pertaining to, a native or inhabitant of, Greece from about 2000 to 300 BC. at the Greek Calends: see CALENDS 3. Greek chorus (a) the chorus in Greek drama; (b) transf. conduct imitative of this chorus, consisting of open wailing or wise sympathetic comments. Greek cross an upright cross with limbs of equal length. Greek CYPRIOT. Greek Fathers the Fathers of the Church who wrote in Greek. Greek fire: see FIRE noun 2c. Greek fret: see FRET noun2 3. Greek gift a gift given with intent to harm (with allus. to Virgil's Aeneid ii. 49). Greek god (a) fig. a paragon of male beauty; (b) a hairstyle with short curls all over the head. Greek key: see KEY noun1. on the Greek Calends: see CALENDS 3. Greek salad: typically containing olives, feta cheese, tomatoes, cucumber, and onion, dressed with olive oil and often lemon juice or vinegar. Greek valerian the plant Jacob's ladder, Polemonium caeruleum. till the Greek Calends: see CALENDS 3.
Greekdom noun (a) the Greek world; a Greek State or community; (b) arch. the fraternity of card-sharpers: M19.
Greekery noun (rare) the practices of or attributed to Greeks; spec. (arch.) cheating at cards: L17.
Greekess noun (rare) a female Greek M19.
Greekless adjective without knowledge of Greek L19.
Greekly adverb in a Greek fashion, in the Greek language LME.
Greekness noun M19.