DCHP-1 Online
green hand 
1 Fur Trade, Hist. See greenhorn (def. 1) 1920 quote.
See also: greenhorn (def. 1)
- 1859 (1870) Met a party from Carleton bringing the mail, and likewise the "green hands"--as the newly engaged men are called.
- 1913 I especially resented the rule prohibiting any "green hand" to get into a canoe. . . .
2 in lumbering, fishing, etc., an inexperienced man.
See also: greenhorn (def. 2) green man
- 1835 (1963) . . . I need not tell you that green hands must always pass a season or two with experienced fishermen. . . .
- 1883 It is time for the "green hands" to exercise themselves on the loose timber and logs.
- 1927 Life in such craft was so monotonous, so jail-like, and the cruises so lengthy that naught but graduate whalemen and "green" hands were carried.
- 1961 This was also the time when the "green hands"--the young men who had been hired for the drive for the first time--would practise on the loose timber and logs. . . .
- 1859 (1870) Met a party from Carleton bringing the mail, and likewise the "green hands"--as the newly engaged men are called.