grayback

[ grey-bak ]

noun
  1. 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.

  2. Informal. a Confederate soldier.

Origin of grayback

1
First recorded in 1805–15; gray1 + back1

Dictionary.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. Brasher
  • The graybacks in the water, realizing that they were engaged on an errand of peace and humanity, had left their muskets on shore.

  • If you call the graybacks infantry and the fleas cavalry, what in the world do you call these, Si?

  • The old graybacks are jest thunderin' in on them rocks with a roar you can hear three miles back in the woods.

  • So the submarine proceeds on her way, wallowing and tumbling through the heavy graybacks of the North Sea.

    Our Navy in the War | Lawrence Perry