| 释义 |
▪ I. grig, n.1|grɪg|
Also 5 grege, 7 greg, grigg(e.
[Of obscure origin. The identity of the word in the various senses is very doubtful, but Johnson's conjecture that it originally meant ‘anything below the natural size’ would plausibly account for all the uses. (Cf. griggles.)
Cf. also Sw. dial. krik (literary Sw. kräk) little animal, small child; Sc. crick, crike, ? a louse (Jam.); also crick n.4]
†1. A diminutive person, a dwarf. [Perh. transf. from sense 3 (or 4, if the latter be genuine).] Obs. rare.
a1400–50Alexander 1753 Slike a dwinyng, a dwaȝe, & a dwerȝe as þi-selfe, A grub, a grege out of grace [Dubl. A grob, a grig out of grece]. 1629Maxwell tr. Herodian 209 Having..scoft him, for that being such a low Grigge [Gr. µικρὸς ὤν, L. tantulæ homo staturæ], he would presume to personate such High and Mighty Heroes as Alexander and Achilles.
2. A short-legged hen. Also grig-hen. Obs. exc. dial.
1589Rider Eng.-Lat. Dict., A Grigge or shorte legged henne, gallinella, gallinula. 1601Holland Pliny I. 300 A dwarfish kind of hens, (i. grig hens) that are extraordinarie little. 1721–1800in Bailey. 1847–78in Halliwell. 1866Derbysh. Gloss. in Reliquary VI. 160 Grig, a Bantam fowl.
3. A species of eel; a small or young eel (see quots.). Also more fully grig-eel.
1611Cotgr., Anguillette, a Grig, or little Eele. 1629Gaule Holy Madn. 130 Silly Grigge! Come out of thy Pond and Mud. 1653Walton Angler x. 192 The silver-Eele, and green or greenish Eel (with which the River of Thames abounds, and are called Gregs). 1688R. Holme Armoury ii. 325/1 An eel first a Fausen, then a Grigg, or Snigg. 1726Dict. Rust. (ed. 3) s.v. Elver, A sort of Griggs, or small Eels, which..swim on top of the Water about Bristol. 1758Descr. Thames 193 The Greenish, or Greg-Eel. 1769Pennant Zool. III. 114 There is another variety of this fish [the eel] known in the Thames by the name of Grigs, and about Oxford by that of Grigs or Gluts. 1883G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads xxxi. (1884) 234 The grig is a yellowish eel, with a projecting underjaw.
b. attrib. in grig-weel († also shortened grig), a basket-work trap for catching grigs.
1798Trans. Soc. Arts XVI. 135 Used by the fishermen to make grigs, or twig tunnels, to catch eels and other fish. 1883Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 57 Grig Weel. Lamprey Weel... Improved Eel Pot.
4. A grasshopper or cricket. dial.
The genuineness of this sense is doubtful, as the dialect glossaries containing it usually quote as their sole example the phrase ‘merry as a grig’ (see 5).
1847Halliwell, Grig..a cricket. Var. dial. 1855Tennyson Brook 54 The dry High-elbow'd grigs that leap in summer grass. 1869Lonsdale Gloss., Grig..a cricket.
5. a merry (or † mad) grig (rarely without adj.): an extravagantly lively person, one who is full of frolic and jest. Also in phrase as merry (or lively) as a grig.[Commonly associated with sense 4; but it is possible that sense 4 is itself merely an erroneous inference from the equivalence of the above phrases with ‘a merry crick’, ‘merry as a cricket’; if so, the allusion in ‘a merry grig’ may originally have been to sense 3 or even to sense 2. The relation of merry grig to the earlier recorded synonym merry Greek is obscure; no doubt one of them must have been a perversion of the other, but the difference of recorded date is too slight to afford ground for saying that merry Greek is the original. The probability seems indeed rather on the other side, as it is not easy to explain why Greek should be used in this sense, for which there is no precedent in Fr. Cf. also ] 1566Drant Horace's Sat. i. iii. B v b, A merry grigge, a iocande frende. 1589Hay any Work 4 A company of merrie grigs you must think them to be. 1638Brome Antipodes i. v. Wks. 1873 III. 245 Whilst I And my mad Grigs, my men can run at base. a1652― Eng. Moor iii. iii. ibid. II. 50 Ile to my Griggs Again; And there will find new mirth to stretch And laugh. 1728Vanbr. & Cib. Prov. Husb. i. ii, A very pretty, civil young woman truly, and the maids are the merriest grigs. Ibid. v. i, Man. I thought you had all supt at home last Night? Sir Fran. Why so we did—and all as merry as Grigs. 1758–65Goldsm. Ess. vi. Wks. (Globe) 304/1, I grew as merry as a grig, and laughed at every word that was spoken. 1810Splendid Follies I. 176 She capered mighty consequentially, and yet she has no bold appearance; but that nation [the French] are such a set of grigs, I don't wonder at it. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop l, I shall be as merry as a grig among these gentry. 1847Alb. Smith Chr. Tadpole xviii. (1879) 161 Her aunt..has turned as lively as a grig. 1863Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. viii. 200 To such a man, this grig of a girl, ever on the alert for roguery,..is an absolute abomination. 1868Geo. Eliot in Cross Life (1885) III. 65 When I was a young grig—not very full of hope about my woman's future.
†b. App. the designation of the members of some convivial society. (Perh. a different word.) Obs.
1810Crabbe Borough Let. x. 349 Griggs and Gregorians here their meetings hold.
6. slang. A farthing; pl. money, cash, ‘dibs’.
1656–7Burton's Diary (1828) I. 335 The poor man..sent to one Mr. Best..to pay her 40l. to accommodate her for her journey home; but she having received the griggs set sail another way. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew s.v., Not a Grig did he tip me, not a Farthing wou'd he give me. 1747W. Horsley Fool (1748) II. 129 When speaking of a Man without any Money in his Pocket, we say that he is not worth a Grig; that is, he has not wherewith to make himself merry. 1785in Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue. 1839H. Ainsworth Jack Sheppard iii, He shall go through the whole course..unless he comes down to the last grig.
▪ II. grig, n.2 dial.|grɪg|
[a. W. grug, Cornish grig = Ir., Gael. fraoch:—OCeltic *wroiko-s.]
The common heath or heather, Calluna vulgaris; also, cross-leaved heath, Erica Tetralix.
1674–91Ray Collect. Words 126 Grig; Salopiensibus Heath. 1692Act 4 Will. & Mary c. 23 §9 Any Grig, Ling, Heath [etc.]. 1791Trans. Soc. Arts IX. 78 With strong heath, grig, or ling, growing thereon. 1829Evans & Ruffy's Farmers Jrnl. 14 Sept. 291 Digging stone, cutting grig, fern, and rushes. 1829Glover Hist. Derby I. 113 Erica vulgaris, long grig or common heath. 1878Britten & Holland Plant-n., Grig, (2) Erica Tetralix.
▪ III. grig, v.1 Now Anglo-Irish and U.S.|grɪg|
Also 6 grigge.
trans. To irritate, annoy.
1553T. Wilson Rhet. 98 When we jest closely, and, with dissemblyng meanes, grigge our felowe. 1837Haliburton Clockm. Ser. i. viii, That remark seemed to grig him a little. 1845S. C. Hall Whiteboy xii. 108 The counsellor grigging me. 1855Haliburton Nat. & Hum. Nat. I. vi. 173 That word superiors grigged me.
▪ IV. grig, v.2|grɪg|
Also 8 greg.
[f. grig n.1 3.]
intr. To fish for grig. Hence ˈgrigging vbl. n.
1764Low Life (ed. 3) 68 Getting ready their Carting Nets to go a Gregging. 1820–2W. H. Pyne Wine & Walnuts (1824) II. vi. 53 The wharf..was much frequented..by parties who were fond of the eel-net, or grigging. |