To have the grindstone on his back, verb. phr. (common).—Said of a man going to fetch the monthly nurse.—Grose.

Grinning-stitches, subs. (milliners’).—Slovenly sewing; stitches wide apart; ladders (q.v.).

Grip (or Gripsack), subs. (American).—A hand-bag or satchell.

To lose one’s grip, verb. phr. (American).—To fail; to lose one’s control.

Gripe, subs. (old).—1. A miser; a usurer. Also Griper or Gripe-fist (q.v.). For synonyms, see Hunks and Sixty-per-cent. Griping = extortion.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Gripe, or griper, s.v. An old covetous wretch. Also a banker, money scrivener, or usurer.

2. in. pl. (colloquial).—The colic; the stomach ache; the Collywobbles. For synonyms, see Jerry-go-nimble.

1684. Bunyan, Pilgr. Prog., Pt. II. He concluded that he was sick of the gripes.

1705. Char. of a Sneake, in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), ii., 356. He never looks upon her Majesty’s arms but semper eadem gives him the gripes.

1714. Spectator, No 559. Meeting the true father, who came towards him with a fit of the gripes, he begged him to take his son again, and give back his cholic.

1812. Coombe, Tour in Search of Picturesque, c. xxvi. That he who daily smokes two pipes, The tooth-ache never has—nor gripes.

Gripe-fist, subs. (common).—A miser; a grasping broker. For synonyms, see Hunks. Also Gripe-penny.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Grist, subs. (American).—A large number or quantity. [Swift uses grist = a supply; a provision.]

1848. Cooper, Oak Openings. There’s an unaccountable grist of bees, I can tell you.

a. 1852. Traits of American Humour, i., 305. I … got pretty considerable soaked by a grist of rain.

To bring grist to the mill, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To bring profitable business; to be a source of profit.

1719. Poor Robin’s Almanack, May. Lawyers pleading do refrain A while, and then fall to ’t again; Strife brings grist unto their mill.

1770. Foote, Lame Lover, i. Well, let them go on, it brings grist to our mill.

1804. Horsley, Speech, 23 July. A sly old pope created twenty new saints, to bring grist to the mill of the London clergy.

1817. Scott, Ivanhoe, c. 16. Some three or four dried pease—a miserable grist for such a mill. [219]

1838. Dickens, Nich. Nickleby, ch. xxxiv., p. 268. Meantime the fools bring grist to my mill.

Gristle, subs. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

Grit, subs. (originally American: now colloquial).—1. Character; pluck; spirit; sand (q.v.). Also clear grit. No grit = lacking in stamina; wanting in courage.

1825. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, bk. II., ch. xiv. A chap who was clear grit for a tussle, any time.

1848. Burton, Waggeries, etc., p. 13. The old folks … began to think that she warn’t the clear grit.

1849. C. Kingsley, Alton Locke, ch. vi. A real lady—l’air noble—the rael genuine grit, as Sam Slick says.

1852. H. B. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ch. vii. You’re a right brave old girl. I like grit, wherever I see it.

1860. Thackeray, Philip, ch. xxxi. If you were a chip of the old block you would be just what he called the grit.

1889. Referee, 6 Jan. They never did think there was any real grit about him.

1890. Scribner, Feb., 242. ‘Looks like he got grit, don’t it?’ Lige muttered.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 249. I am as full of grit and work as ever, and just tower above our troubles.

2. (Canadian political).—A member of the Liberal party.

Gritty, adj. (American).—Plucky; courageous; resolute; full of character.

1847. Robb, Squatter Life, p. 106. There never was a grittyer crowd congregated on that stream.

Grizzle, verb. (colloquial).—To fret. Also to grizzle one’s guts.

1872. Miss Braddon, To the Bitter End, ch. xvi. ‘If the locket’s lost, it’s lost,’ she said philosophically; ‘and there’s no use in grizzling about it.’

Grizzle-guts (or Grizzle- or Glum-pot). subs. (common).—A melancholy or ill-tempered person; a sulkington (q.v.).

Groaner, subs. (old).—A thief plying his trade at funerals or religious gatherings.

1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London, s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Groaning, subs. (old).—The act of parturition. Also, adj., parturient; or appertaining to parturition: as in groaning-malt (Scots’) = drink for a lying-in; groaning-pains = the pangs of delivery; groaning-wife = a woman ready to lie-in.

1594. Nashe, Unfort. Trav. (Chiswick Press, 1892), p. 92. As smoothe as a groaning-wive’s bellie.

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, iii., 2. It would cost you a groaning to take off my edge.

1786. Burns, The Rantin’ Dog the Daddie O’t. Wha will bring the groaning-malt?

Groats, subs. (nautical).—The chaplain’s monthly allowance.

To save one’s groats, verb. phr. (old University).—To come off handsomely. [At the Universities nine groats are deposited in the hands of an academic officer by every person standing for a degree, which, if the depositor obtains, with honour, are returned to him.—Grose.]

Grocery, subs. (common).—1. Small change.

1728. Bailey, Eng. Dict., s.v.

2. (American).—A drinking bar. Also Confectionery and Groggery.

1847. Porter, Quarter Race, etc. 104. He went into his favourite grocery. [220]

3. (common).—Sugar. [A restricted use of a colloquialism.]

1841. Lytton, Night and Morning, Bk. V., ch. ii. A private room and a pint of brandy, my dear. Hot water and lots of the grocery.

Grog, subs. (old: now recognised).—Spirits and water; strong drink generally. [Till Admiral Vernon’s time (1745) rum was served neat, but he ordered it to be diluted, and was therefore nicknamed ‘Old Grog,’ in allusion to his grogram coat: a phrase that was presently adapted to the mixture he had introduced.] Groggy = drunk.

Verb. (old).—To dilute or adulterate with water.

1878. Lincoln, Rutland, and Stamford Mercury, 8 Mar. The defendants had grogged the casks by putting in hot water.

To have grog on board (or to be grogged), verb. phr. (common).—To be drunk. For synonyms, see Screwed.

1842. Comic Almanack, October. He stands and listens, sad and dogged, To ‘fined five bob’ for being grogged.

Grog-blossom, subs. (common).—A pimple caused by drinking to excess. Also Copper-nose and Jolly-nose. Fr., un nez culotté and un nez de pompettes.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, Grog-blossom, s.v.

1883. Thos. Hardy, The Three Strangers, in Longman’s Mag., March, p. 576. A few grog-blossoms marked the neighbourhood of his nose.

1888. W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, ch. xi., p. 169. The outward and visible signs of rum were indeed various. First, there was the red and swollen nose, next, the nose beautifully painted with grog-blossoms.

Grog-fight, subs. (military).—A drinking party. Cf., Tea-fight.

1876. R. M. Jephson, Girl he Left Behind Him, ch. 1. He had been having a grog-fight in his room to celebrate the event.

Groggery, subs. (American).—A public bar; a grog-shop.

Groggy, adj. (colloquial).—1. Under the influence of drink. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

1829. Buckstone, Billy Taylor. i., as a gay young woman, will delude Taylor away from Mary, make him groggy, then press him off to sea.

1863. Fun, 23 May, p. 98, c. 2. They fined drunkards and swearers, and there is a record in the parish-books, among others of a similar nature, of a certain Mrs. Thunder who was fined twelve shillings for being, like Mr. Cruikshank’s horse at the Brighton Review, decidedly groggy.

1872. Echo, 30 July. A model of perfection had she not shown more than necessary partiality to her elder friend’s brandy bottle during the journey, despite the latter’s oft-repeated caution not to become groggy.

2. (colloquial).—Staggering or stupified with drink. Also (stable) moving as with tender feet. Also (pugilists’) unsteady from punishment and exhaustion. Fr., locher = to be groggy.

1831. Youatt, The Horse, ch. xvi., p. 380. Long journeys at a fast pace will make almost any horse groggy.

1846–8. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, vol. ii., ch. v. Cuff coming up full of pluck, but quite reeling and groggy, the Fig-merchant put in his left as usual on his adversary’s nose, and sent him down for the last time.

1853. Diogenes, vol. ii., p. 177. The anxiety is not confined to the metropolis; as a respectable grazier, who rides a groggy horse, on hearing of it at a public-house the other day, affirmed it to be the mysterious cause of the rise in the value of horseflesh.

1888. Sportsman, 28 Nov. In the tenth Thompson, who had been growing groggy, to the surprise of Evans began to force the fighting. [221]

Grogham, subs. (old).—A horse; a daisy-kicker (q.v.). Now mostly in contempt. For synonyms, see Prad.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Grog-shop, subs. (common).—The mouth. For synonyms, see Potatoe-trap.

1843. Thackeray, Men’s Wives, Frank Berry, ch. i. Claret drawn in profusion from the gown-boy’s grog-shop.

Grog-tub, subs. (nautical).—A brandy bottle.

Groom, subs. (gamesters’).—A croupier.

Groomed. See Well-groomed.

Groovy, subs. (American).—A sardine.

Adj. (popular).—Settled in habit; limited in mind.

Grope, verb. (venery).—To feel a woman; to fumble; to fam (q.v.).

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie. Mariolement. Groping of a wench.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 194. Smoking, toping, Landlady groping.

Groper, subs. (old).—1. A blind man; hoodman (q.v.).

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

1728. Bailey, Eng. Dict., s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

2. (old).—A pocket. For synonyms, see Brigh and Sky-rocket.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 143. Gropers. Pockets.

3. (old).—A midwife; a fingersmith (q.v.).

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Grotto, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Ground. To suit down to the ground, verb. phr. (common).—To be thoroughly becoming or acceptable.

1878. M. E. Braddon, Cloven Foot, ch. xlv. Some sea coast city in South America would suit me down to the ground.

1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 9 Feb. I knows the very bloke that’ll suit you down to the ground.

1891. Sporting Life, 28 Mar. At Knowle he is suited down to the ground.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. ii. They suit me right down to the ground.

To wipe (or mop) up the ground (or floor) with one, verb. phr. (common).—To administer the very soundest thrashing; to prove oneself absolutely superior to one’s opposite.

1887. Henley and Stevenson, Deacon Brodie, i., 3. Muck! that’s my opinion of him; … I’ll mop the floor up with him any day, if so be as you or any on ’em ’ll make it worth my while.

1888. Detroit Free Press, Aug. The Scroggin boy was as tough as a dogwood knot. He’d wipe up the ground with him; he’d walk all over him.

To go (or get) well to the ground, verb. phr. (old colloquial).—To defæcate; to rear (q.v.). For synonyms, see Mrs. Jones.

1608. Middleton, Family of Love, v. 3. Do you go well to the ground?

1856. Notes and Queries, 2 S., i., p. 324. To get to the ground, in medical phraseology, means to have the bowels opened. [222]

Grounder, subs. (cricketers’).—A ball with a ground delivery; a sneak; a grub; and (in America) at base-ball, a ball struck low, or flying near the ground.

Ground-floor. To be let in on the Ground-floor, verb. phr. (American).—To share in a speculation on equal terms with the original promoters.

Ground-squirrel, subs. (old).—A hog; a grunter—Lex. Bal. For synonyms, see Sow’s Baby.

Ground-sweat. To have (or take) a ground-sweat, verb. phr. (old).—To be buried.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Ground sweat, s.v., a grave.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Grouse. To do a grouse (or to go grousing), verb. phr. (venery).—To quest, or to run down, a woman; to molrow (q.v.). Groused = Molled (q.v.).

Grouser, subs. (popular).—1. A grumbler. For synonyms, see Rusty-guts.

2. (venery).—One who goes questing after women; a molrower (q.v.).

3. (sporting).—A rowing man; a wet-bob (q.v.).

Grousing, subs. (venery).—Going in quest of women; sparrow-catching (q.v.); molrowing (q.v.).

Groute, verb. (Marlborough and Cheltenham Colleges).—To work or study hard; to swot (q.v.). For synonyms, see Wire In.

Grouty, adj. (common).—Crabbed; sulky.

Grove of Eglantine, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum; also the female pubic hair. For synonyms, see Monosyllable and Fleece.

1772. Carew, Poems. ‘A Rapture.’ Retire into thy Grove of Eglantine.

Grove of the Evangelist, subs. phr. (common).—St. John’s Wood; also Apostle’s Grove, and the Baptist’s Wood.

Grow, verb. (prison).—To be accorded the privilege of letting one’s hair and beard grow. Also to grow one’s feathers.

Growler, subs. (common).—A four-wheeled cab. Cf., Sulky.

English Synonyms.—Bird-cage; blucher; bounder; fever-trap; flounder-and-dab (rhyming); four-wheeler; groping hutch; mab (an old hackney); rattler; rumbler.

French Synonyms.—Un bordel ambulant (common = a walking brothel); un char numèroté (popular); un flatar (thieves’); un foutoir ambulant (= a fuckery on wheels); un mylord (popular).

1870. Orchestra, 21 Mar. A recent enigmatical bill-poster on the walls, with the device ‘Hie, Cabby, Hie!’ turns out to be a Patent Cab Call—an ingenious sort of lamp-signal for remote hansoms and growlers.

1873. Land and Water, 25 Jan. The knacker’s yard is baulked for a time, while the quadruped shambles along in some poverty-stricken growler. [223]

1883. Daily Telegraph, 8 Jan., p. 5, c. 3. But while a great improvement has been made in hansoms of late years, the four-wheeler or growler is still as a rule a disgrace to the metropolis.

1890. Daily Graphic, 7 Jan., p. 14, c. 1. What with hansom cabs and growlers and private broughams; what with bonded carmen’s towering waggons.

1891. Globe, 15 July, p. 1, c. 3. Adapting the words of Waller to the condition of many of our growlers—The cab’s dull framework, battered and decayed, Lets in the air through gaps that time has made.

To rush (or work) the growler, verb. phr. (American workmen’s).—See quot. [Growler = pitcher.]

1888. New York Herald, 29 July. One evil of which the inspectors took particular notice was that of the employment by hands in a number of factories of boys and girls, under ten and thirteen years, to fetch beer for them, or in other words to rush the growler.

Grown-man’s-dose, subs. (common).—A lot of liquor. Also a long drink (q.v.). For synonyms, see Go.

Grown-up, subs. (colloquial).—An adult: among undertakers, a grown.

1864. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, Bk. ii., ch. 1. I always did like grown ups.

Grub, subs. (vulgar).—1. Food.

English Synonyms.—Belly-cheer (or chere); belly-furniture; belly-timber; Kaffir’s tightener (specifically, a full meal); chuck; corn; gorge-grease; manablins (= broken victuals); mouth harness; mungarly; peck; prog; scoff (S. African); scran; stodge; tack; tommy (specifically, bread); tuck; yam. Also, verbally, to bung the cask; to grease the gills; to have the run of one’s teeth; to yam. See also Wolf.

French Synonyms.—La becquetance (popular = peck); le biffre (popular); la frigousse (popular); la fripe (popular, from O. Fr., fripper = to eat); la gringue (common); les matériaux (freemason’s = materials); la briffe (popular); la boustifaille (popular); le harnois de gueule (Rabelais: = mouth-harness); le coton (popular, an allusion to a lamp-wick); les comestaux (popular = comestibles); le tortorage (thieves’); la broute (popular = grazing); la morfe (O. Fr. Also, in a verbal sense = to feed); tortiller du bec (popular = to wag a jaw); se calfater le bec (nautical: also = to drink); becqueter (popular = to ‘peck’); béquiller (popular); chiquer (popular = to ‘chaw’); bouffer (popular); boulotter (common); taper sur les vivres (popular = to assault the eatables); pitancher (common: also = to drink); passer à la tortore (thieves’); se l’envoyer; casser la croustille (thieves’ = to crack a crust); tortorer (thieves’); briffer; passer à briffe (popular); brouter (Villon = to browse); se caler, or se caler les amygdales (popular); mettre de l’huile dans la lampe (common = to trim the lamp); se coller quelque chose dans le fanal, dans le fusil, or dans le tube (popular = to trim one’s beacon-light; to load one’s gun, etc.); chamailler des dents (popular = to ‘go it’ with the ivories); jouer des badigoinces (common: badigoinces = chaps); jouer des dominos (popular: dominos = teeth); déchirer la cartouche (military); gobichonner (popular); engouler (popular = to bolt); engueuler (colloquial = to gobble); friturer (popular: also = to cook); gonfler (popular: to blow out); morfiaillier (Rabelaisian); morfigner, [224]or morfiler (From O. Fr., morfier; cf., Ital., morfire or morfizzare); cacher (popular = to stow away); se mettre quelque chose dans le cadavre (popular = to stoke); se lester la cale (nautical: to lay in ballast); se graisser les balots (thieves’: to grease the gills); se caresser (to do oneself a good turn); effacer (popular = to put away); travailler pour M. Domange (popular: M. Domange was a famous goldfinder or gong farmer [q.v.]); clapoter (popular); debrider la margoulette (popular = to put one’s nose in the manger); croustiller (popular); charger pour la guadaloupe (popular); travailler pour Jules (common: Jules = Mrs. Jones); se faire le jabot (popular, jabot = stomach); jouer des osanores (popular: osanores = teeth); casser (thieves’); claquer (familiar = to rattle one’s ivories); klebjer (popular); faire trimer les mathurins (popular = to make the running with one’s teeth); se coller quelque chose dans le bocal (common: bocal = paunch); estropier (popular = to maim); passer à galtos (nautical); bourrer la paillasse (common = to stuff the mattress); faire trimer le battant (thieves’); jouer des mandibules (popular); s’emplir le gilet (popular = to fill one’s waistcoat); se garnir le bocal (popular: to furnish one’s paunch); se suiver la gargarousse (nautical: also = to drink); babouiner (popular); charger la canonnière (popular: canonnière = the breech); gousser (popular); gouffier (obsolete).

German Synonyms.—Achile, Achelinchen, or Acheliniken (from Heb. Ochal); Achelputz (from Heb. ochal + putzen from O.H.G. bizan or pizzan = to eat).

Italian Synonyms.—Artibrio; and, verbally, sbattere (= to beat, to struggle); intappare il fusto (= to bung the cask); smorfire.

Spanish Synonyms.—Papar (colloquial: from papa = pap); hacer el buche (low: buche = craw or crop); echar (colloquial); manducar; meter.

1659. Dialogue betwixt an Exciseman and Death, transcribed from a Copy in British Museum, printed in London by J. C[lark]. I’ll pass my word this night Shall yield us grub before the morning light.

1725. New Cant. Dict. Grub, s.v., victuals.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, I., 171. How did you procure your grub and Bub?

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 149. Bub and Grub. A mighty low expression, signifying victuals and drink.

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. iii. Poor Purser! de people call him Purser, sir, because him knowing chap; him cabbage all de grub, slush, and stuff in him own corner.

d. 1842. Maginn, Vidocq’s Song. Any bubby and grub, I say?

1857. Thackeray, Shabby Genteel Story, ch. i., p. 9. He used to … have his grub too on board.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. i., p. 45. I at once congratulated myself on not being a large eater, as there was no doubt but my grub would run very short if it depended on my oakum-picking.

1889. Star, 3 Dec., p. 2, c. 6. Of course it was grub. It was for food, the food for which they beg, and steal, and go willingly to prison, for a certain good square meal of meat.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 154. That sad, sad secret about Mary would keep him in grub for the next day or two at ‘The Rose in Bloom.’

2. (old).—A short thick-set man; a dwarf. In contempt. For synonyms, see Hop-o’-my-Thumb. [225]

3. (colloquial).—A dirty sloven; generally used of elderly people.

4. (American).—A careful student; a hard reader.

1856. Hall, College Words and Phrases, quoted from Williams’ Coll. Quarterly, ii., 246. A hard reader or student: e.g., not grubs or reading men, only wordy men.

5. (American).—Roots and stumps; whatever is ‘grubbed up.’

6. (cricketers’).—A ball delivered along the ground; a grounder (q.v.); a daisy-cutter (q.v.). For synonyms, see Lob-sneak.

1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf. Grub, s.v.

Verb. (old).—1. To take or supply with food. For synonyms, see subs. sense 1.

1725. New Cant. Dict. Grub, s.v., to eat.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Grub, s.v., to dine.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxii., p. 184. I never see such a chap to eat and drink; never. The red-nosed man warn’t by no means the sort of person you’d like to grub by contract, but he was nothin’ to the shepherd.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 18 May, p. 3, c. 1. ‘They are not bound to grub you, don’t you know,’ said Mr. Sleasey, ‘and they try the starving dodge on you sometimes.’

2. (old).—To beg; to ask for alms, especially food.

3. (American).—To study, or read hard; to ‘sweat.’

To ride grub, verb. phr. (old).—To be sulky; crusty (q.v.); disagreeable.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. To ride grub, to be sullen or out of temper.

To grub along, verb. phr. (common).—To make one’s way as best one can; ‘to rub along.’

1888. Daily Telegraph, 19 Oct. When a youth left school to follow the pursuits of life he found that he had to grub along as best he could.

Grubbing, subs. (common).—Eating.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib. What with snoozing, high grubbing, and guzzling like Cloe.

Grubbery, subs. (common).—(1) an eating-house. Also (2) a dining-room, and (3) the mouth.

Grubbing-crib, subs. (general).—1. An eating-house. Grubbing-crib faker = the landlord of a cheap cookshop. Fr., le nourrisseur; Sp., un ostalero. See Grub Shop, sense 2.

English Synonyms.—Grubbery; grubby-, or grubbing-ken; grub-shop; guttle-shop; hash-house; mungarly casa; prog-shop; slap-bang shop; tuck-shop; waste-butt.

French Synonyms.—Un bourre-boyaux (popular = a stuff-your-guts); un claquedents (popular, also = a brothel, or punting-house); une guingette (general); une mangeoire (popular = a grubbery: manger = to eat); un mattais (popular); un gargot (thieves’).

German Synonym.—Achilebajes (from Heb., Ochal = to eat).

Spanish Synonym.—Ostaleria, or Osteria (also = lush-crib).

1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v.

2. (tramps’).—A workhouse. For synonyms, see Spinniken. Sometimes Grubbiken. [226]

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., 416. I know all the good houses, and the tidy grubbikens—that’s the unions where there’s little or nothing to do for the food we gets.

Grubble, verb. (colloquial).—(1) To feel for at random or in the dark; and (2) (venery) to grope (q.v.).

1684. Dryden, The Disappointment. ‘Prologue.’ The doughty bullies enter bloody drunk, Invade and grubble one another’s punk.

Grubby, subs. (thieves’).—Food. [A diminutive of Grub (q.v.).]

d. 1842. Maginn, Vidocq’s Song. I pattered in flash like a covey knowing, Tol lol, etc. Ay, bub or grubby, I say.

Adj. (colloquial).—Dirty; slovenly.

d. 1845. Hood, A Black Job. Like a grubby lot of sooty sweeps or colliers.

Grub-hunting, subs. (tramps’).—Begging for food.

Grub-shite, verb. (old).—To make foul or dirty; to bewray.—Grose.

Grub-shop, (or -crib, -trap, etc.), subs. (common).—1. The mouth; and (2) a grubbery (q.v.). For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

1840. Thackeray, Comic Almanack, p. 229. ‘That’s the grub shop,’ said my lord, ‘where we young gentlemen wot has money buys our wittles.’

3. See Grubbing-crib in both senses.

Grub-stake, subs. (American).—Food and other necessaries furnished to mining prospectors in return for a share in the ‘finds.’ Hence, to grub-stake = to speculate after this fashion.

1884. Butterworth, Zig-zag Journeys. When miners become so poor that they are not able to furnish the necessary tools and food with which to ‘go prospecting’, a third party of sufficient means offers to furnish tools and provisions on condition that he is to have a certain interest in anything that may be found.

1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody of Nowhere, p. 100. He grub-staked us and we used to work on the Tillie mine together.

Grub-street, subs. (colloquial).—The world of cheap, mean, needy authors. [Originally a street near Moorfields, changed in 1830 to Milton Street.]

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Grub-street news, false, forg’d.

1728. Pope, Dunciad, iii., 135. Shall take through grub-street his triumphant round.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. A Grub-street writer means a hackney author, who manufactures books for the booksellers.

1813. J. and H. Smith, Horace in London, ‘The Classic Villa.’ Grub-street, ’tis called.

1821. Egan, Life in London, i. Few, if any, writers, out of the great mass of living scribblers, whether of Grub-Street fabrication, or of University passport … possess souls above buttons.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 119. We are going it, have got our agents in Grub Street.

Gruel, subs. (common).—1. A beating; punishment (q.v.). For synonyms, see Tanning. Hence, to get (or give) one’s gruel = to castigate, or be well beaten; also killed. In the prize ring = to knock a man out for good. Gruelled = floored; also Gruelling.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxviii. He gathered in general, that they expressed great indignation against some individual. ‘He shall have his gruel,’ said one.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends. ‘Babes in the Wood.’ He that was mildest in mood gave the truculent rascal his gruel.

1849. C. Kingsley, Alton Locke, ch. xii. They were as well gruelled as so many posters, before they got to the stile. [227]

1888. Sporting Life, 15 Dec. Preferred to be easily knocked out to taking his gruel like a man.

1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 23 Jan. Both men were badly punished, but George had, of course, the lion’s share of the gruel.

1891. Licensed Vict. Mirror, 30 Jan., p. 7, c. 3. All the advantage rested with the same side for some little time, Paddock getting such a gruelling that his head swelled out like a pumpkin.

2. (American thieves’).—Coffee.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Grueller, subs. (common).—A knock-down blow; a settler; a floorer (q.v.).

Grumble-guts, subs. (popular).—An inveterate croaker. Also Grumble-gizzard.

Grumbles. To be all on the grumbles, verb. phr. (popular).—To be discontented; cross; on the snarly-yow (q.v.).

Grumbletonian, subs. (common).—A pattern of discontent: one ever on the grumble. [Grumbleton (during the reigns of the later Stuarts) = an imaginary centre of discontent; hence, Grumbletonian, a nickname of the County party, distinguished from the Court, as being in opposition.]

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Grumbletonians, malecontents, out of Humour with the Government, for want of a Place, or having lost one.

1705–7. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. I., pt. 1, p. 24 (2nd Ed.). But all the grumbletonian throng Did with such violence rush along.

1773. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, Act 1. Now, if I pleased, I could be so revenged upon the old grumbletonian.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Grumbletonian, s.v., a discontented person.

1849–61. Macaulay, Hist. of Eng., ch. xix. Who were sometimes nicknamed the grumbletonians, and sometimes honoured with the appellation of the County party.

Grummet, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Grumpy (or Grumpish), adj. (colloquial).—Surly; cross; angry.

1840. Mrs. Trollope, Michael Armstrong, ch. vi. If you blubber or look grumpish.

1859. Sala, Twice Round the Clock, 3 a.m., par. 13. Calling you a ‘cross, grumpy, old thing,’ when you mildly suggest that it is very near bed-time.

1868. Miss Braddon, Trail of the Serpent, bk. IV., ch. i. A grumpy old deaf keeper, and a boy, his assistant.

1883. Punch, 19 May, p. 230, c. 2. They all looked grumpy and down in the mouth.

Grundy, subs. (old).—A short fat man; a forty-guts (q.v.).—See Mrs. Grundy.

1563. Fox, Acts and Monuments (London, 1844), iii., 1104. For that he being a short grundy, and of little stature, did ride commonly with a great broad hat.

Grunter, subs. (old).—1. A pig; a grunting-cheat (q.v.). In quot. 1652 = pork. For synonyms, see Sow’s Baby.

1656. Brome, Jovial Crew. Here’s grunter and bleater, with tib-of-the-buttry.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Grunter, s.v. A sucking pig.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Grunter, s.v.

1841. Comic Almanack, p. 266. And the squeaking grunter is loose on the green.

1847–50. Tennyson, Princess, v. 26. A draggled mawkin, That tends her bristled grunters in the sludge. [228]

2. (common).—A sixpence. In quot. 1785 = 1s. Cf., Hog and Pig.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, Grunter, s.v. A shilling.

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, bk. III., ch. iii., p. 267. One of the men … had only taken three ‘twelvers’ [shillings] and a grunter.

1885. Household Words, 20 June. p. 155. The sixpence … is variously known as a ‘pig,’ a ‘sow’s baby,’ a grunter, and ‘half a hog.’

3. (common).—A policeman; a trap (q.v.); a pig (q.v. sense 2). For synonyms, see Beak.

1820. London Magazine, i., 26. As a bonnet against … grunters.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum. Grunter, s.v., a country constable.

4. (tailors’).—An habitual grumbler; a grumble-guts (q.v.)

Grunter’s-gig, subs. (old).—A smoked pig’s chap.—Grose.

Grunting-cheat, subs. (old).—A pig. See Chete. For synonyms, see Sow’s Baby.

1567. Harman, Caveat, p. 86. She has a cackling-chete, a grunting-chete, ruff pecke, cassan, and poplarr of yarum.

1622. Fletcher, Beggars Bush, v., 1. Or surprising a boor’s ken for grunting-cheats? Or cackling-cheats?

Grunting-peck, subs. (old).—Pork or bacon.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Grunting-peck, s.v., pork.

1728. Bailey, Eng. Dict., s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1836. Smith, Individual. ‘The Thieves’ Chaunt.’ But dearer to me Sue’s kisses far Than grunting peck or other grub are.

Gruts, subs. (common).—Tea; For synonyms, see Scandal-broth.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

G. T. T. Gone to Texas, phr. (American).—Absconded. [Moonshining gentry used to mark G. T. T. on the doors of their abandoned dwellings as a consolation for inquiring creditors.] Fr., aller en Belgique. For synonyms, see Swartwort.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 5 S., ch. viii. Before this misfortin’ came I used to do a considerable smart chance of business; but now it’s time for me to cut dirt, and leave the country. I believe I must hang out the G. T. T. sign.—‘Why, what the plague is that?’ says I. ‘Gone to Texas,’ said he.

Guage.—See Gage.

Gubbins, subs. (old).—Fish-offal.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie, q.v.

Gudgeon, subs. (old).—1. A bait; an allurement. Hence, To gudgeon (or to swallow a gudgeon) = to be extremely credulous or gullible.

1598. Shakspeare, Merchant of Venice, i., 1. But fish not with this melancholy bait, For this fool’s gudgeon, this opinion.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, Bersela, s.v. To swallow a gudgeon … to believe any tale.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, Gudgeon, s.v. To swallow the bait, or fall into a trap, from the fish of that name which is easily taken.

1892. National Observer, 23 July, vii., 235. It has educated Hodge into an increased readiness to gorge any gudgeon that may be offered him.

2. (colloquial).—An easy dupe; a buffle (q.v.).

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Guerrilla, subs. (American sharpers’).—See quot. [229]

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. This name is applied by gamblers to fellows who skin suckers when and where they can, who do not like the professional gamblers, but try to beat them, sometimes inform on them, and tell the suckers that they have been cheated.

Guff, subs. (common).—Humbug; bluff; jabber. For synonyms, see Gammon.

1889. Sportsman, 19 Jan. Hereafter he can have the newspapers to himself, and with that windbag Mitchell fill them with guff and nonsense, but I won’t notice them.

Guffy, subs. (nautical).—A soldier. For synonyms, see Mudcrusher.

Guiders, subs. (general).—1. Reins; ribbons (q.v.).

2. (common).—Sinews; leaders (q.v.).

Guinea. A guinea to a gooseberry, phr. (sporting).—Long odds. See Lombard Street to a China Orange.

1884. Hawley Smart, Post to Finish, ch. vli. What! old Writson against Sam Pearson? Why, it’s a guinea to a gooseberry on Sam!

Guinea-dropper, subs. (old).—A sharper. Specifically one who let drop counterfeit guineas in collusion with a gold-finder (q.v.). For synonyms, see Rook.

1712, Gay, Trivia, iii., 249. Who now the guinea dropper’s bait regards, Tricked by the sharper’s dice or juggler’s cards.

Guinea-hen, subs. (old).—A courtezan. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1602. Shakspeare, Othello, i., 3. Ere I would say I would drown myself for the love of a guinea-hen, I would change my humanity with a baboon.

1630. Glapthorne, Albertus Wallenstein. Yonder’s the cock o’ the game About to tread yon guinea-hen, they’re billing.

Guinea-pig, subs. (old).—1. A general term of reproach.

1748. Smollett, Roderick Random, xxiv. A good seaman he is, as ever stepp’d on forecastle—none of your guinea-pigs,—nor your freshwater, wishy-washy, fair-weather fowls.

2. (old).—Any one whose nominal fee for professional services is a guinea: as vets., special jurymen, etc. Now mainly restricted to clergymen acting as deputies, and (in contempt) to directors of public companies. Hence Guinea-trade = professional services of any kind.

1821. Coombe, Dr. Syntax, Tour III., c. iv. ‘Oh, oh,’ cried Pat, ‘how my hand itches, Thou guinea-pig [a ‘vet.’], in boots and breeches, to trounce thee well.’

1871. Temple Bar, vol. xxxi., p. 320. A much more significant term is that of guinea pigs, the pleasant name for those gentlemen of more rank than means, who hire themselves out as directors of public companies, and who have a guinea and a copious lunch when they attend board meetings.

1880. Church Review, 2 Jan. Guinea pigs … are, for the most part, unattached or roving parsons, who will take any brother cleric’s duty for the moderate remuneration of one guinea.

1883. Saturday Review, 25 Aug., p. 246, c. 2. A country parson was suddenly attacked with diphtheria, late in the week. Recourse was had in vain to the neighbours, and it was decided at last to telegraph to London for a guinea pig.

1884. Echo, 19 May, p. 1, c. 5. Let us apply the principle further, and imagine … limited liability swindlers tried by a jury of guinea-pigs and company promoters. [230]

1884. Graphic, 29 Nov., p. 562, c. 3. And the guinea-pig, whose name is on a dozen different Boards, is justly regarded with suspicion.

1886. Chambers’s Jour., 24 Apr., p. 258. In order to be considered of any value as Director of a Company, a guinea-pig ought to have a handle to his name.

1887. Payn, Glow Worm Tales. ‘A Failure of Justice.’ He is best known to the public as a guinea-pig, from his habit of sitting at boards and receiving for it that nominal remuneration, though in his case it stands for a much larger sum.

1889. Drage, Cyril, vii. The rector has, as usual, got the gout, and we live under a régime … of guinea-pigs.

1890. Standard, 26 June, p. 5, c. 4. The least attempt to saddle responsibility for misleading statements upon Boards of Directors would drive prudent, ‘respectable’ men out of what is vulgarly called the guinea-pig business.

3. (nautical).—See quot.

1840. Marryat, Poor Jack, ch. xxvi. While Bramble was questioned by the captain and passengers, I was attacked by the midshipmen, or guinea-pigs as they are called.

Guise’s Geese, subs. phr. (military).—The Sixth Foot or ‘Saucy Sixth.’ [From its Colonel’s name, 1735–63.]

Guiver, subs. (theatrical).—(1) Flattery, and (2) artfulness (q.v.). For synonyms, see Soft Soap.

Adj. (common).—Smart; fashionable; on it (q.v.). Guiver lad = a low-class dandy; also an artful member (q.v.).

a. 1866. Vance, Chickaleary Cove. The stock around my squeeze of a guiver colour see.

Verb (sporting).—To humbug; to fool about (q.v.); to show off.

1891. Sporting Life, 25 Mar. He goes into a ring to fight his man, not to spar and look pretty, and run, and dodge, and guiver.

Gulf, subs. (old).—1. The throat; also the maw. For synonyms, see Gutter-alley.

1579. Spencer, Shephearde’s Calendar, Sept. That with many a lamb had glutted his gulf.

2. (Cambridge Univ.).—The bottom of a list of ‘passes,’ with the names of those who only just succeed in getting their degree.

1852. Bristed, Five Years in an English University, p. 205. Some ten or fifteen men just on the line, not bad enough to be plucked, or good enough to be placed, are put into the gulf, as it is popularly called (the examiners’ phrase is ‘degrees allowed’), and have their degrees given them, but are not printed in the calendar.

3. (Oxford Univ.).—A man who, going in for honours, only gets a pass.

Verb (Cambridge Univ.).—To place in the gulf, subs., sense 2 (q.v.); to be gulfed = to be on such a list. [Men so placed were not eligible for the Classical Tripos]. Cf., Pluck and Plough.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, pt. iii., p. 89. I am not going to let them gulph me a second time.

1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, p. 123. The good Professor scolded, predicted that they would all be either gulfed or ploughed.

1865. Sporting Gaz., 1 Apr. A man who was gulfed for mathematical honours was certainly, in olden time, unable to enter for the classical examination; but though the arrangement is altered, the term is not obsolete. A man who is gulfed is considered to know enough mathematics for an ordinary degree, but not enough to be allowed his degree in mathematics only; he is consequently obliged to pass in all the ordinary subjects (except mathematics) for the ‘poll,’ before taking his degree. [231]

1876. Trevelyan, Life of Macaulay (1884), ch. ii., p. 61. When the Tripos of 1822 made its appearance, his name did not grace the list. In short … Macaulay was gulfed.

1852. Bristed, Five Years in an English University, p. 297. I discovered that my name was nowhere to be found—that I was gulfed.

Gulf-spin, subs. (American cadet).—A rascal; a worthless fellow; a beat (q.v.) a shyster (q.v.).

Gull, subs. (old, now recognised).—1. A ninny. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1596. Sir J. Davies, Book of Epigrams. A gull is he who feares a velvet gowne, And when a wench is brave dares not speak to her; A gull is he which traverseth the towne, And is for marriage known a common wooer; A gull is he, which while he proudly weares A silver-hilted rapier by his side. Indures the lye and knockes about the eares, While in his sheath his sleeping sword doth bide. But to define a gull in termes precise—A gull is he which seems, and is not, wise.

1598. Florio, A World of Wordes, passim.

1609. Jonson, Case is Altered, iv., 3. Jun. Tut, thou art a goose to be Cupid’s gull.

1609. Shakspeare, Timon of Athens. Lord Timon will be left a naked gull. Which flashes now a phœnix.

1614. Overbury, Characters. ‘A Roaring Boy.’ He cheats young guls that are newly come to town.

1618. Rowlands, Night Raven, p. 28 (H. C. Rept., 1872). I know the houses where base cheaters vse, And note what gulls (to worke vpon) they chuse.

1661. Brome, Poems, ‘The Cure of Care.’ Those gulls that by scraping and toiling.

1818. S. E. Ferrier, Marriage, ch. li. The poor gull was caught, and is now, I really believe, as much in love as it is in the nature of a stupid man to be.

1850. D. Jerrold, The Catspaw, Act i. Pshaw! some rascal that lives on simpletons and gulls.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 231. I was a dweller under roofs; the gull of that which we call civilisation.

2. (old).—A cheat; a fraud; a trick.

1600. Shakspeare, Much Ado about Nothing, ii., 3. I should think this a gull, but that the white-bearded fellow speaks it.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie, q.v.

3. (Oxford Univ.).—A swindler; a trickster. Cf., Gull-catcher, of which it is probably an abbreviation.

1825. The English Spy, v. I., p. 161. ‘You’ll excuse me, sir, but as you are fresh, take care to avoid the gulls.’ ‘I never understood that gulls were birds of prey,’ said I. ‘Only in Oxford, sir, and here, I assure you, they bite like hawks.’

Verb (old: now recognised).—To cheat; to dupe; to victimise; to take in (q.v.). in any fashion and to any purpose.

1596. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, v. This is a mere trick, a device, you are gulled in this most grossly.

1602. Shakspeare, Twelfth Night, ii., 3. Mar. For Monsieur Maluolio, let me alone with him; If I do not gull him into a nayword, and make him a common recreation, do not thinke I haue witte enough to lye straight in my bed; I know I can do it.

1607. Rowlands, Diogenes, his Lanthorne, p. 11 (H. C. Rept. 1873). He promist me good stuffe truly, a great pennyworth indeed, and verily did gull me.

1610. Jonson, Alchemist, v., 2. Hast thou gulled her of her jewels or her bracelets?

1639. Selden, Table Talk, p. 98 (Arber’s ed.). Presbyters have the greatest power of any Clergy in the world, and gull the Laity most.

1778. Sketches for Tabernacle-Frames, p. 25, note. These fanatical Preachers frequently squeeze out Tears to gull their Audience. [232]

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, I., 472. It’s generally the lower order that he gulls.

1892. Henley and Stevenson, Deacon Brodie, ix. Pay your debts, and gull the world a little longer.

Hence Gullible, adj., = easily duped.