brownback

plural brownbacks

1. A bird, the dowitcher or red-breasted snipe.

   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.

   1897, Forest and Stream - Volume 48, page 142

   1 more example

   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.

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

2. A postage stamp printed in brown ink, used in the 1890s.

   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.

   1894, St. Nicholas - Volume 21, page 221

   1 more example

   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.

   1893, The Philatelic Journal of America

3. A note of scrip printed on brown paper, such as that issued by the city of St. Louis during a financial crisis.

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

   1900, The Medical World - Volume 18, page 282

   5 more examples

   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.

   1889, John Albert Sleicher, Leslie's - Volumes 67-69, page 335

   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.

   1896, The American Stationer - Volume 40, page 357

   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, St. Louis Public Library Magazine Vol. V, page 11

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

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

   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."

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