Green Hands (a nautical phrase)
. Inferior sailors, also called boys. A crew is divided into (1) Able seamen; (2) Ordinary seamen; and (3) Green hands or boys. The term “boys” has no reference to age, but merely skill and knowledge in seamanship. Here “green” means not ripe, not mature.
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Entry taken from
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,
edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.