"grig" meaning in English

See grig in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ɡɹɪɡ/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-grig.wav [Southern-England] Forms: grigs [plural]
Rhymes: -ɪɡ Etymology: The word is often used in the phrase "merry as a grig". The word is of uncertain origin, though various theories have been suggested, such as a corruption of "merry as a cricket" or "merry as a Greek", as in William Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida: "Then she's a merry Greek indeed." Johnson suggested that the word originally meant "anything below the natural size" (compare Swedish krik and Scots crick). Etymology templates: {{cog|sv|krik}} Swedish krik, {{cog|sco|crick}} Scots crick Head templates: {{en-noun}} grig (plural grigs)
  1. (obsolete) A dwarf. Tags: obsolete
    Sense id: en-grig-en-noun-N1cFntQI
  2. A cricket or grasshopper. Categories (lifeform): Crickets and grasshoppers, Eels
    Sense id: en-grig-en-noun-jmOiLHWm Disambiguation of Crickets and grasshoppers: 3 75 3 4 11 4 Disambiguation of Eels: 2 20 33 33 5 7
  3. A small or young eel. Categories (lifeform): Eels
    Sense id: en-grig-en-noun-MFoP4Wrp Disambiguation of Eels: 2 20 33 33 5 7
  4. Specifically, the broad-nosed eel. See glut. Categories (lifeform): Eels
    Sense id: en-grig-en-noun-0jNhCyG1 Disambiguation of Eels: 2 20 33 33 5 7
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: merry as a grig
Etymology number: 1

Noun

IPA: /ɡɹɪɡ/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-grig.wav [Southern-England] Forms: grigs [plural]
Rhymes: -ɪɡ Etymology: From Welsh grug, Cornish grig. Etymology templates: {{der|en|cy|grug}} Welsh grug, {{der|en|kw|grig}} Cornish grig Head templates: {{en-noun}} grig (plural grigs)
  1. (UK, dialect) Heath or heather. Tags: UK, dialectal
    Sense id: en-grig-en-noun-y5kT3~B6 Categories (other): British English
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Verb

IPA: /ɡɹɪɡ/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-grig.wav [Southern-England] Forms: grigs [present, singular, third-person], grigging [participle, present], grigged [participle, past], grigged [past]
Rhymes: -ɪɡ Head templates: {{en-verb}} grig (third-person singular simple present grigs, present participle grigging, simple past and past participle grigged)
  1. (transitive) To irritate or annoy. Tags: transitive
    Sense id: en-grig-en-verb-TCjkfNhg
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 3

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for grig meaning in English (6.5kB)

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
      "word": "merry as a grig"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sv",
        "2": "krik"
      },
      "expansion": "Swedish krik",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sco",
        "2": "crick"
      },
      "expansion": "Scots crick",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "The word is often used in the phrase \"merry as a grig\". The word is of uncertain origin, though various theories have been suggested, such as a corruption of \"merry as a cricket\" or \"merry as a Greek\", as in William Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida: \"Then she's a merry Greek indeed.\" Johnson suggested that the word originally meant \"anything below the natural size\" (compare Swedish krik and Scots crick).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "grigs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "grig (plural grigs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "A dwarf."
      ],
      "id": "en-grig-en-noun-N1cFntQI",
      "links": [
        [
          "dwarf",
          "dwarf"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) A dwarf."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "3 75 3 4 11 4",
          "kind": "lifeform",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Crickets and grasshoppers",
          "orig": "en:Crickets and grasshoppers",
          "parents": [
            "Insects",
            "Arthropods",
            "Animals",
            "Lifeforms",
            "All topics",
            "Life",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nature"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 20 33 33 5 7",
          "kind": "lifeform",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Eels",
          "orig": "en:Eels",
          "parents": [
            "Elopomorph fish",
            "Fish",
            "Vertebrates",
            "Chordates",
            "Animals",
            "Lifeforms",
            "All topics",
            "Life",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nature"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1926, Hope Mirrlees, chapter 5, in Lud-in-the-Mist",
          "text": "The black rooks will fly away, my son, and you'll come back as brown as a berry, and as merry as a grig.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A cricket or grasshopper."
      ],
      "id": "en-grig-en-noun-jmOiLHWm",
      "links": [
        [
          "cricket",
          "cricket"
        ],
        [
          "grasshopper",
          "grasshopper"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "2 20 33 33 5 7",
          "kind": "lifeform",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Eels",
          "orig": "en:Eels",
          "parents": [
            "Elopomorph fish",
            "Fish",
            "Vertebrates",
            "Chordates",
            "Animals",
            "Lifeforms",
            "All topics",
            "Life",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nature"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 41",
          "text": "[W]e assembled at one o'clock, at two sat down to dinner, consisting of capital stewed grigs, a dish Mrs Burt was famous for dressing, a large joint of roast or boiled meat, with proper vegetables and a good-sized pudding or pie […] ."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A small or young eel."
      ],
      "id": "en-grig-en-noun-MFoP4Wrp",
      "links": [
        [
          "eel",
          "eel"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "2 20 33 33 5 7",
          "kind": "lifeform",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Eels",
          "orig": "en:Eels",
          "parents": [
            "Elopomorph fish",
            "Fish",
            "Vertebrates",
            "Chordates",
            "Animals",
            "Lifeforms",
            "All topics",
            "Life",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nature"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Specifically, the broad-nosed eel. See glut."
      ],
      "id": "en-grig-en-noun-0jNhCyG1",
      "links": [
        [
          "glut",
          "glut#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɡɹɪɡ/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪɡ"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "Grigg"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-grig.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1e/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1e/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Troilus and Cressida",
    "William Shakespeare"
  ],
  "word": "grig"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cy",
        "3": "grug"
      },
      "expansion": "Welsh grug",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "kw",
        "3": "grig"
      },
      "expansion": "Cornish grig",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Welsh grug, Cornish grig.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "grigs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "grig (plural grigs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1791, Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, Transactions of the Society of Arts, volume 9, page 80",
          "text": "The further method of tillage pursued, was to make fallows; and if the season permitted, so that the ground could be cleared and burnt off, to destroy the grig or heath, […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Heath or heather."
      ],
      "id": "en-grig-en-noun-y5kT3~B6",
      "links": [
        [
          "Heath",
          "heath"
        ],
        [
          "heather",
          "heather"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK, dialect) Heath or heather."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "dialectal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɡɹɪɡ/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪɡ"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "Grigg"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-grig.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1e/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1e/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "grig"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 3,
  "etymology_templates": [],
  "etymology_text": "",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "grigs",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "grigging",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "grigged",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "grigged",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "grig (third-person singular simple present grigs, present participle grigging, simple past and past participle grigged)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "To irritate or annoy."
      ],
      "id": "en-grig-en-verb-TCjkfNhg",
      "links": [
        [
          "irritate",
          "irritate"
        ],
        [
          "annoy",
          "annoy"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To irritate or annoy."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɡɹɪɡ/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪɡ"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "Grigg"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-grig.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1e/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1e/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "grig"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "en:Crickets and grasshoppers",
    "en:Eels"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "merry as a grig"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sv",
        "2": "krik"
      },
      "expansion": "Swedish krik",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sco",
        "2": "crick"
      },
      "expansion": "Scots crick",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "The word is often used in the phrase \"merry as a grig\". The word is of uncertain origin, though various theories have been suggested, such as a corruption of \"merry as a cricket\" or \"merry as a Greek\", as in William Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida: \"Then she's a merry Greek indeed.\" Johnson suggested that the word originally meant \"anything below the natural size\" (compare Swedish krik and Scots crick).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "grigs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "grig (plural grigs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with obsolete senses"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A dwarf."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "dwarf",
          "dwarf"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) A dwarf."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1926, Hope Mirrlees, chapter 5, in Lud-in-the-Mist",
          "text": "The black rooks will fly away, my son, and you'll come back as brown as a berry, and as merry as a grig.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A cricket or grasshopper."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "cricket",
          "cricket"
        ],
        [
          "grasshopper",
          "grasshopper"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 41",
          "text": "[W]e assembled at one o'clock, at two sat down to dinner, consisting of capital stewed grigs, a dish Mrs Burt was famous for dressing, a large joint of roast or boiled meat, with proper vegetables and a good-sized pudding or pie […] ."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A small or young eel."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "eel",
          "eel"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Entries missing English vernacular names of taxa"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Specifically, the broad-nosed eel. See glut."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "glut",
          "glut#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɡɹɪɡ/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪɡ"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "Grigg"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-grig.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1e/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1e/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Troilus and Cressida",
    "William Shakespeare"
  ],
  "word": "grig"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "en:Crickets and grasshoppers",
    "en:Eels"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cy",
        "3": "grug"
      },
      "expansion": "Welsh grug",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "kw",
        "3": "grig"
      },
      "expansion": "Cornish grig",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Welsh grug, Cornish grig.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "grigs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "grig (plural grigs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "British English",
        "English dialectal terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1791, Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, Transactions of the Society of Arts, volume 9, page 80",
          "text": "The further method of tillage pursued, was to make fallows; and if the season permitted, so that the ground could be cleared and burnt off, to destroy the grig or heath, […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Heath or heather."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Heath",
          "heath"
        ],
        [
          "heather",
          "heather"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK, dialect) Heath or heather."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "dialectal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɡɹɪɡ/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪɡ"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "Grigg"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-grig.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1e/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1e/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "grig"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "en:Crickets and grasshoppers",
    "en:Eels"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 3,
  "etymology_templates": [],
  "etymology_text": "",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "grigs",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "grigging",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "grigged",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "grigged",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "grig (third-person singular simple present grigs, present participle grigging, simple past and past participle grigged)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To irritate or annoy."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "irritate",
          "irritate"
        ],
        [
          "annoy",
          "annoy"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To irritate or annoy."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɡɹɪɡ/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪɡ"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "Grigg"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-grig.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1e/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1e/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-grig.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "grig"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-03-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-03-01 using wiktextract (68773ab and 5f6ddbb). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.