grouse

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English

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WOTD – 5 January 2021

Pronunciation

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A male spruce grouse (Dendragapus canadensis, syn. Falcipennis canadensis; sense 1) in Acadia National Park, Maine, USA.
A red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scotica; sense 1) near Amulree in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, UK.
The calls of several black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix) recorded in Banchory, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK.

Etymology 1

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Attested in the 1530s, as grows ("moorhen"), a plural used collectively. The origin of the noun is unknown;[1] the following derivations have been suggested:

The verb is derived from the noun.[3]

Noun

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grouse (countable and uncountable, plural grouse or grouses)

  1. (countable) Any of various game birds of the subfamily Tetraoninae which inhabit temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere; specifically, the red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scotica) native to heather moorland on the British Isles. [from 1530s]
    (red grouse): Synonyms: moorbird, moorcock, moorfowl
    • 1531 January, “XXI. Extracts from a MS. Dated ‘apud Eltham, mense Jan. 22 Hen. VIII.’ Communicated to the Society by Owen Salusbury Brereton, Esq; Read at the Society of Antiquaries, April 9, 1772.”, in Archaeologia: Or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, volume III, London: […] Society [of Antiquaries of London]; and by Messieurs Whiston, White, Robson, Baker and Leigh, and Brown, published 1775, →OCLC, page 157:
      Among fowls for the table [of King Henry VIII] are crocards, winders, runners, grows, and peions, but neither Turky or Guiney-fowl.
    • 1633 (first performance), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “A Tale of a Tub. A Comedy […]”, in The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. The Second Volume. […] (Second Folio), London: […] Richard Meighen, published 1640, →OCLC, Act II, scene i, page 70:
      Looke to 't, young growſe: Ile lay it on, and ſure; / Take 't off who's wull.
      Used as an insult.
    • 1979, Rien Poortvliet, translated by Marlies Comjean, “The Black Grouse”, in The Living Forest: A World of Animals, New York, N.Y.: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.; Peacock Press/Bantam Books, →ISBN:
      The shy black grouse, “with an eye on every feather,” can only thrive in vast, absolutely undisturbed heath and moorlands. Therefore, unfortunately, there are not too many black grouse.
    • 2015 February 14, “Kaltenbrunner: “All Everest parties around one table!””, in Deutsche Welle‎[1], archived from the original on 31 January 2023‎[2]:
      I don’t know whether someone will go to the North Face this year. There you can find pure loneliness. In the base camp, you are only joined by snow grouses. Otherwise, it is extremely quiet, and you have the view of the North Face. You won’t meet anyone at the Kangshung Face too.
  2. (uncountable) The flesh or meat of this bird eaten as food.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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grouse (third-person singular simple present grouses, present participle grousing, simple past and past participle groused)

  1. (intransitive) To hunt or shoot grouse.
Translations
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Etymology 2

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The origin of the verb is uncertain; it is possibly borrowed from Norman groucier, from Old French groucier, grousser (“to grumble, murmur”) [and other forms] (whence grutch (“to complain; to murmur”) and grouch). The further etymology is unknown, but it may be derived from Frankish *grōtijan (“to make cry, scold, rebuke”) or of onomatopoeic origin.[4]

The noun is derived from the verb.[5]

Verb

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grouse (third-person singular simple present grouses, present participle grousing, simple past and past participle groused)

  1. (intransitive, originally military slang, informal) To complain or grumble. [from late 19th c.]
    • 1890, Kipling, The Young British Soldier:
      If you're cast for fatigue by a sergeant unkind,
      Don't grouse like a woman, nor crack on, nor blind;
      Be handy and civil, and then you will find
      That it's beer for the young British soldier.
    • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
      Grouse away!" he growled. "If grousin' made a man happy, you'd be the champion."
Derived terms
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Translations
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Noun

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grouse (plural grouses)

  1. (informal) A cause for complaint; a grumble. [from early 20th c.]
Translations
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Etymology 3

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Uncertain;[6] possibly from British dialectal groosh (“excellent, very good”) (Lothian (Scotland)),[7] grosh (northeast Lancashire) and groshy (“having thriving vegetation; juicy and tender; of weather: good for vegetation, rainy”) (Lancashire, Yorkshire),[8] grushie (“having thriving vegetation”) (Scotland);[9] from Scots groosh (“excellent, very good”) (Lothian, obsolete),[10] grush (obsolete), grushie, grushy (“growing healthily or lushly; excellent, very good”) (both archaic), from gross (“lacking refinement, coarse; fat; large”) + -ie (suffix meaning ‘rather, somewhat’).[11]

Adjective

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grouse (comparative grouser, superlative grousest)

  1. (Australia, New Zealand, slang) Excellent. [from 1920s]
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:excellent
    Antonyms: see Thesaurus:bad
    I had a grouse day.    That food was grouse.
    • 1965, Mudrooroo, Wild Cat Falling, HarperCollins, published 2001, page 99:
      Real grouse birthday this. First time he's had a party.
    • 1991, Tim Winton, Cloudstreet, Scribner Paperback Fiction, published 2002, page 182:
      They were the grousest ladies she′d ever met.
    • 1998 July 23, Stujo, “SPOILER FTF - questions”, in aus.tv.x-files‎[3] (Usenet):
      Not a question but the gag of Mulder pissing on the ID4 poster was grouse.
    • 2003 October 4, Leeroy, “FS Ultralight Aircraft”, in aus.motorcycles‎[4] (Usenet):
      I know, but I moved from riding bikes to flying and it is a great move. All riders without a fear of heights I know that flew with me thought it was grouse- and there are no coppers or speed limits up there.
Translations
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References

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  1. ^ “grouse, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1900.
  2. ^ “grouse1, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “grouse, v.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1900.
  4. ^ Compare “grouse, v.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1900; “grouse2, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022; “grutch, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1900.
  5. ^ Compare “grouse, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1933; “grouse2, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  6. ^ Compare “grouse, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972; “grouse3, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  7. ^ Joseph Wright, editor (1900), “GROOSH, adj.”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume II (D–G), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 738, column 1.
  8. ^ Joseph Wright, editor (1900), “GROSHY, adj.”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume II (D–G), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 739, column 1.
  9. ^ Joseph Wright, editor (1900), “GRUSHIE, adj.”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume II (D–G), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 750, column 2.
  10. ^ John Jamieson (1825) “GROOSH”, in Supplement to the Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language: […], volumes I (A–J), Edinburgh: […] University Press; for W[illiam] & C[harles] Tait, […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC, page 515, column 2.
  11. ^ “GRUSHIE, -Y, adj.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC; “-IE, suff.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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French

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English grouse.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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grouse m (plural grouses)

  1. grouse

Further reading

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