brownback

English

Etymology

From brown +‎ back.

Noun

brownback (plural brownbacks)

1. A bird, the dowitcher or red-breasted snipe.
   • 1897, Forest and Stream - Volume 48, page 142:

     In the fall and winter I shot in the lagoons and in the harbor of Greytown blue-wing and green-wing teal and gadwalls; also sickle-bill curlews, peeps or least sandpipers, and brownbacks or grass birds.

   • 1974, George Ross Starr, Decoys of the Atlantic flyway, page 88:

     Two "brownbacks," as they are known on Cape Cod where these came from, are shown in Figure 36. The one whose head is held forward represents the male in fall plumage — the back slate gray and the breast a cinnamon pink.

2. A postage stamp printed in brown ink, used in the 1890s.
   • 1893, The Philatelic Journal of America:

     The color work on the postage stamps will not be new to the bureau. In addition to the work which it has done on proprietary stamps, it has mixed and used every shade of color in its other work. Brown was used on the “brownbacks,” green on the "greenbacks;" different blues on customs stamps and on the backs of bonds.

   • 1894, St. Nicholas - Volume 21, page 221:

     Of course the printers are not all doing the same kind of work: some are printing the greenbacks, some the brownbacks, some the faces, and others the backs and faces, of the revenue stamps.

3. A note of scrip printed on brown paper, such as that issued by the city of St. Louis during a financial crisis.
   • 1889, John Albert Sleicher, Leslie's - Volumes 67-69, page 335:

     There are greenbacks for one department of the tithing-house, brownbacks for another, and so on. By using this scrip the Church is able to create a market for considerable quantities of the tithing.

   • 1896, The American Stationer - Volume 40, page 357:

     These notes were printed on paper the reverse of which was of a brown color, and very soon after their appearance they were nicknamed the brownbacks, and continued to bear this name during the whole time they were in circulation.

   • 1900, St. Louis Public Library Magazine Vol. V, page 11:

     A notable instance of this character was the issue by the city in 1873 of the "Brownbacks,” so called, as circulating notes, which were not regarded as a violation of this provision of the charter, and which were retired by the proceeds of a special tax levied and collected for that purpose after the present charter came in force.

   • 1900, The Medical World - Volume 18, page 282:

     The brownbacks come into circulation by creating a debt and involving double interest.

   • 1911, Walter Barlow Stevens, St. Louis: The Fourth City, 1764-1911 - Volume 1, page 249:

     In the emergency of a shortage of cash the city resorted to a temporary issue of scrip called "brownbacks."

   • 1942, Review of economic statistics - Volume 24, page 123:

     In order to prevent consumers from supplementing their current cash allowance out of cash hoards, it would be necessary either to stamp all dollar bills when the scheme is put into operation or to change them completely; e.g., by printing "brownbacks" instead of "greenbacks."

   • 1985, Frank Passic, Albion's Banks and Bankers, page 41:

     At least two banknotes of the First national Bank of Albion are known to exist today. Both are $10 brownbacks.

   • 1989, United States. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Crime, Crime, Violence, and Drug Abuse in South Florida:

     Come tomorrow morning you say we are going to have pinkbacks or brownbacks and make everybody turn their currency in to the Federal Government.

   • 1993, FBIS Report: Central Eurasia - Issues 134-139, page 35:

     As is known, there are two opinions among financial experts and economists:.one holds that without administrative interference in the regulations governing hard currency circulation, which by itself is harmful for the social economy, one cannot achieve financial stabilization; the other, on the opposite, is against any administrative restrictions, and advocates a natural stabilization of the money supply, as a result of which all "greenbacks," "graybacks," and "brownbacks" will disappear from circulation on their own.

   • 2003, Julian Bond, Gateway Heritage:

     Among the large collection of historic criminal daguerreotypes, tintypes, and ambrotypes on display was that of Louis Degurie, who was one of the first to use photography to make counterfeit "brownbacks," in 1862.