. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
you have here. The definition of the word
will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English gruen, probably from Middle Low German gruwen or Middle Dutch gruwen (compare Dutch gruwen), both from Proto-Germanic *grūwijaną, perhaps ultimately an imitative derivative of Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰers- (“to bristle”),[1] or instead from *gʰer- (“to rub, stroke, grind”).[2]
Verb
grue (third-person singular simple present grues, present participle gruing, simple past and past participle grued)
- (intransitive, archaic) To be frightened; to shudder with fear.
1822, Sir Walter Scott, The Pirate, volume I, Philadelphia: H. C. Carey and I. Lea, pages 111–112:“It is seenteen hundred linen,” said the pedlar, giving a tweak to one of the shirts, in that knowing manner with which matrons and judges ascertain the texture of the loom ; “it’s seenteen hundred linen, and as strong as an it were dowlas. Nevertheless, mother, your bidding is to be done ; and I would have done Mr. Mordaunt’s bidding too,” he added, relaxing from his note of defiance, into the deferential whining tone with which he cajoled his customers, “if he hadna made use of profane oaths which made my very flesh grue, and caused me, in some sort, to forget myself.”
Translations
Noun
grue (plural grues)
- (Scotland) A shiver, a shudder.
1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:Upon all others the sight of Alison, were it but for a moment, cast a cold grue, not to be remembered without terror.
- 1964, Geoffrey Jenkins, (title):
- A Grue of Ice
1992, Alasdair Gray, Poor Things, Bloomsbury, published 2002, page 25:A cold grue went through me—I was unable to touch such a hand.
Translations
References
- ^ van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “gruwen”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute
- ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959) “460”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 460
Etymology 2
Back-formation from gruesome.
Noun
grue (uncountable)
- Any byproduct of a gruesome event, such as gore, viscera, entrails, blood and guts.
- The butcher was covered in the accumulated grue of a hard day's work
- There was grue everywhere after the accident
1958, Samuel Youd, writing as John Christopher, The Caves of Night:'I've told you - it wasn't much. He tried to kiss me.' She smiled slightly. 'Just after he had shown me the family skeletons.' / 'What a lovely bit of grue!'
- 1996, Linda Badley, Writing Horror and the Body
- Carrie is Cinderella in the body language of menstrual blood and raging hormones. King’s adolescent joy in grimaces and groans, the Mad magazine humor, and the staple of “grue” hardly need mentioning.
- 2002, Carole Nelson Douglas, Chapel Noir
- “ She is quite agreeable to gruesome ghost stories, but appalled by the lust for life.” / “I admit that I am surprised by how well she handles sheer grue, better than I.”
- 2004, Talbot Mundy, Guns of the Gods
- “This is the grue,” said Dick, holding his lantern high. / Its light fell on a circle of skeletons, all perfect, each with its head toward a brass bowl in the center.
Etymology 3
Probably from gruesome; first used in Jack Vance's Dying Earth universe in the 1940s, but popularized by the text-based computer game Zork in 1980.
Noun
grue (plural grues)
- A fictional man-eating predator that dwells in the dark.
1981, Byte, volume 6:I managed to get into the house through the front once, but I was plunged into darkness and eaten by a monster called a grue.
2009, Jas, “Hazadous Australian animals the GRUE.... your guide”, in rec.travel.australia+nz (Usenet):To find a grue, turn off the light at night, or go for a walk in a dark place (but carry a flashlight with you).
2004, M.D. Dollahite, “How would you imagine a grue?”, in rec.games.int-fiction (Usenet):Incidentally, the best official text description I know of is in Sorcerer, when you actually become a grue and visit a grue colony. IIRC, even that description is vague, but does cannonize that they are large four-legged reptiles.
Etymology 4
Blend of green + blue. The philosophy sense was coined by American philosopher Nelson Goodman in 1955 to illustrate concepts in the philosophy of science. The linguistic sense was coined by American linguist Paul Kay in 1975[1] as a translation from languages such as Welsh that have a basic cover term that covers both the hues called "green" and "blue" in English.
Adjective
grue (not comparable)
- (philosophy) Of an object, green when first observed before a specified time or blue when first observed after that time.
1965, Nelson Goodman, Fact, Fiction and Forecast:The grue property is defined as: x is grue if and only if x is green and is observed before the year 2000, or x is blue and is not observed before the year 2000.
2007, Michael Clark, Paradoxes from A to Z:The unexamined emeralds cannot be both green and grue, since if they are grue and unexamined they are blue.
- (linguistics) A single color inclusive of both green and blue as different shades, used in translations from languages such as Old Welsh and Old Chinese that lacked a distinction between green and blue.
Coordinate terms
Translations
philosophy: of an object that is first green, then blue
linguistics: green or blue in languages that do not distinguish the two colors
See also
Etymology 5
Noun
grue (uncountable)
- (slang) Nutraloaf, a bland mixture of foods served in prisons.
References
- ^ Nancy Bonvillain (1993) Language, Culture, and Communication, 4th edition, Pearson Education, published 2003, →ISBN, page 58: “[Paul] Kay (1975) later revised the original sequence somewhat in order to account for the fact that certain languages […] encode a color of "green-blue" that may occur before labeling "yellow." Kay called this color category "GRUE" […]”
Anagrams
French
Etymology
Inherited from Vulgar Latin *grua, from Latin gruem.
Pronunciation
Noun
grue f (plural grues)
- crane (bird)
(Can we date this quote?), Phaedrus, translated by Levasseur and J. Chenu, Fables, sourced from :La Grue se laisse enfin persuader par ses serments- At length, on his taking an oath, a Crane was prevailed on
- crane (machine)
- (colloquial) prostitute, hooker
Derived terms
Descendants
Further reading
Anagrams
Latin
Noun
grue
- ablative singular of grūs
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology 1
From Middle Low German , related to gruve (“mine”) and grav (“grave”).
Noun
grue f or m (definite singular grua or gruen, indefinite plural gruer, definite plural gruene)
- fireplace
Synonyms
Etymology 2
From Low German gruwen.
Verb
grue (present tense gruer, simple past grua or gruet or grudde, past participle grua or gruet or grudd)
- To be queasy or nervous in anticipation of something.
Han gruet for morgendagen.- He was queasy about the following day.
Han grudde seg til tannlegen.- He was queasy about the dentist.
Usage notes
Can be used electively with the reflexive pronoun seg.
References
- “grue” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
From Middle Low German , related to gruve (“mine”) and grav (“grave”).
Pronunciation
Noun
grue f (definite singular grua, indefinite plural gruer, definite plural gruene)
- an open brick fireplace, a hearth
References
- “grue” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Yola
Etymology
In North English, it means riches.
Pronunciation
Noun
grue
- wealth, greed
References
- Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 43