Greek

• POS: Adjective, Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

Greek, a. [AS. grec, L. Graecus, Gr. ?: cf. F. grec. Cf. Grecian.].

 Of or pertaining to Greece or the Greeks; Grecian.  [1913 Webster]

Greek calends. See under Greek calends in the vocabulary. -- Greek Church (Eccl. Hist.), the Eastern Church; that part of Christendom which separated from the Roman or Western Church in the ninth century. It comprises the great bulk of the Christian population of Russia (of which this is the established church), Greece, Moldavia, and Wallachia. The Greek Church is governed by patriarchs and is called also the Byzantine Church. -- Greek cross. See Illust. (10) Of Cross. -- Greek Empire. See Byzantine Empire. -- Greek fire, a combustible composition which burns under water, the constituents of which are supposed to be asphalt, with niter and sulphur. Ure. -- Greek rose, the flower campion.

Greek, n. 

•  A native, or one of the people, of Greece; a Grecian; also, the language of Greece.  [1913 Webster]
•  A swindler; a knave; a cheat.  [1913 Webster]

  "Without a confederate the . . . game of baccarat does not . . . offer many chances for the Greek."  [1913 Webster]
•  Something unintelligible; as, it was all Greek to me.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Greek, n. & adj.
--n.
1 a a native or national of modern Greece; a person of Greek descent. b a native or citizen of any of the ancient States of Greece; a member of the Greek people.
2 the Indo-European language of Greece.
--adj. of Greece or its people or language; Hellenic.

Idiom

Greek (or Greek Orthodox) Church the national Church of Greece (see also Orthodox Church). Greek cross a cross with four equal arms. Greek fire hist. a combustible composition for igniting enemy ships etc. Greek to me colloq. incomprehensible to me.

Derivative

Greekness n.

Etymology

OE Grecas (pl.) f. Gmc f. L Graecus Greek f. Gk Graikoi, the prehistoric name of the Hellenes (in Aristotle)

THESAURUS

Greek

Aesopian language, Babel, affiliate, argot, associate, babble, belonger, brother, cant, card-carrier, card-carrying member, cardholder, charter member, cipher, clubber, clubman, clubwoman, code, committeeman, comrade, conventioneer, conventioner, conventionist, cryptogram, double Dutch, drivel, dues-paying member, enlistee, enrollee, fellow, fraternity man, garble, gibberish, gift of tongues, glossolalia, gobbledygook, guildsman, honorary member, initiate, insider, jabber, jabberwocky, jargon, joiner, jumble, life member, member, noise, nonsense, one of us, pledge, scramble, secret language, sister, skimble-skamble, slang, socius, sorority girl, sorority woman

ROGET THESAURUS

Greek

Thief

N thief, robber, homo triumliterarum, pilferer, rifler, filcher, plagiarist, spoiler, depredator, pillager, marauder, harpy, shark, land shark, falcon, mosstrooper, bushranger, Bedouin, brigand, freebooter, bandit, thug, dacoit, pirate, corsair, viking, Paul Jones, buccaneer, buccanier, piqueerer, pickeerer, rover, ranger, privateer, filibuster, rapparee, wrecker, picaroon, smuggler, poacher, abductor, badger, bunko man, cattle thief, chor, contrabandist, crook, hawk, holdup man, hold-up, jackleg, kidnaper, rustler, cattle rustler, sandbagger, sea king, skin, sneak thief, spieler, strong-arm man, highwayman, Dick Turpin, Claude Duval, Macheath, footpad, sturdy beggar, cut purse, pick purse, pickpocket, light-fingered gentry, sharper, card sharper, skittle sharper, thimblerigger, rook, Greek, blackleg, leg, welsher, defaulter, Autolycus, Jeremy Diddler, Robert Macaire, artful dodger, trickster, swell mob, chevalier d'industrie, shoplifter, swindler, peculator, forger, coiner, fence, receiver of stolen goods, duffer, smasher, burglar, housebreaker, cracksman, magsman, Bill Sikes, Jack Sheppard, Jonathan Wild, gang, gang of thieves, theft ring, organized crime, mafia, the Sicilian Mafia, the mob, la cosa nostra, Dillinger, Al Capone, Robin Hood.

Unintelligibility

N unintelligibility, incomprehensibility, imperspicuity, inconceivableness, vagueness, obscurity, ambiguity, doubtful meaning, uncertainty, perplexity, spinosity, obscurum per obscurius, mystification, latency, transcendentalism, paradox, oxymoron, riddle, enigma, puzzle, diagnus vindice nodus, sealed book, steganography, freemasonry, pons asinorum, asses' bridge, high Dutch, Greek, Hebrew, jargon, unintelligible, unaccountable, undecipherable, undiscoverable, unknowable, unfathomable, incognizable, inexplicable, inscrutable, inapprehensible, incomprehensible, insolvable, insoluble, impenetrable, illegible, as Greek to one, unexplained, paradoxical, enigmatic, enigmatical, puzzling (secret), indecipherable, obscure, dark, muddy, clear as mud, seen through a mist, dim, nebulous, shrouded in mystery, opaque, dense, undiscernible, misty, hidden, latent, indefinite, garbled, perplexed, undetermined, vague, loose, ambiguous, mysterious, mystic, mystical, acroamatic, acroamatical, metempirical, transcendental, occult, recondite, abstruse, crabbed, inconceivable, inconceptible, searchless, above comprehension, beyond comprehension, past comprehension, beyond one's depth, unconceived, inexpressible, undefinable, incommunicable, unpredictable, unforeseeable, it's Greek to me.