grayback
any of various marine and aquatic animals that are dark gray above and light-colored or white below, as the gray whale, the alewife, certain whitefish, and certain sandpipers.
Informal. a Confederate soldier.
Origin of grayback
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use grayback in a sentence
By the gunners known as “Red-breasted Snipe” in the spring and summer and as “Graybacks” in the winter months.
Western Bird Guide | Chester A. (Chester Albert) Reed, Harry F. Harvey, and Rex I. BrasherThe graybacks in the water, realizing that they were engaged on an errand of peace and humanity, had left their muskets on shore.
The Soldier Boy; or, Tom Somers in the Army | Oliver OpticIf you call the graybacks infantry and the fleas cavalry, what in the world do you call these, Si?
Si Klegg, Book 4 (of 6) | John McElroyThe old graybacks are jest thunderin' in on them rocks with a roar you can hear three miles back in the woods.
Shorty McCabe on the Job | Sewell FordSo the submarine proceeds on her way, wallowing and tumbling through the heavy graybacks of the North Sea.
Our Navy in the War | Lawrence Perry
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