| 释义 |
▪ I. † gross, n.1 Obs. rare—1.
[ad. L. grossus.]
A green fig; a young fig.
c1420Pallad. on Husb. iv. 633 And premature yf that the list enlonge Their grossis, whenne as grete as benys be So tacke hem of.
▪ II. † gross, n.2 Obs.
Also 7 grosse, (7 pl. grooz).
[repr. F. gros, It. grosso.]
A name for various foreign coins (historically representing the mediæval grossus or groat); e.g. the German groschen, and the Italian grosso, worth about 3d.
1638L. Roberts Map Comm. clxxix. ii. 104 Their Accounts are heere [at Antwerpe] kept by Livers, Sol and Deniers, which they terme Pounds, Shillings and Pence of grosses, 12. grosses making a Sold, and 20. Sold a Liver or pound Flemish. Ibid. clxxx. ii. 111 A grosse is 6. deniers turnois. 1655Digges Compl. Ambass. 96 Queen Maries..Dowry [was] Three thousand pounds Flemish, after fourty grooz to the pound. 1673Necessity Maintain. Estab. Relig. (ed. 5) 31 His Holiness..has valued the most horrid crimes at so easie rates as a few Grosses, or a Julio. 1686Lond. Gaz. No. 2177/3 The Letters from Buda..tell us, That 1000 Hey⁓dukes who have three Gross a day..are daily at work. 1705Hickeringill Priest-cr. ii. i. 7 For keeping a Concubine (if a Priest) 7 Gross..but if a Lay-man keep a Miss, the price is—8 Gross. [Ibid. ii. viii. 73 To keep a Wench—will cost you Eight Groats, or Seven Grosso's, if a Lay-Man.]
▪ III. gross, n.3|grəʊs|
Forms: 5 groos, 5, 7 groce, 6 gros, 6–7 grosse, 8–9 grose, 7– gross.
[a. F. grosse (= Sp. gruesa, Pg., It. grossa), orig. the fem. of gros big, gross a.]
Twelve dozen. Not found in pl., the sing. being used with numerals. Also small gross, in opposition to great gross = 12 gross (see great a. 8 d).
1411Close Roll, 12 Hen. IV, 26 Apr., [To export from England to Ireland] unum groos de poyntes. 1480Wardr. Acc. Edw. IV (1830) 150 A groos pointes of sylk of divers colours. 1495–7Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 265 Bowes—cc; Strynges—v groce; Arowes—cccc sheffes. 1549Privy Council Acts (1890) II. 348 Bowe stringes, xl gros. 1598B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. iii. i, Sure, he utters them [sonnets] then, by the grosse. 1630J. Taylor (Water P.) Superbiæ Flagellum 36 Wks. 31/1 Fourteene groce of buttons and gold lace. 1660Act 12 Chas. II, c. 4 Schedule s.v. Bosses, Bosses for Bridles the small groce, cont. 12 dozen jl. 1685Lond. Gaz. No. 2001/4 A Groce of Gimp Lace mixt with Tincy, a Groce of Silk Buttons. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. ix. (1840) 153 A gross of tobacco-pipes. 1803S. Pegge Anecd. Eng. Lang. 261 We call twelve dozen; i.e. twelve multiplied by itself a gross or grose by tale. 1805T. Harral Scenes of Life II. 63 A manufacturer of ghosts and monsters by the gross.
▪ IV. gross, a. and n.4|grəʊs|
Forms: 5 groos, 5–7 groce, 5–8 gros(e, grosse, (6 groose, grouse), 6 Sc. groiss, 5– gross.
[a. F. gros, fem. grosse big, thick, coarse (11th c. in Littré) = Pr. gros, Sp. grueso, Pg., It. grosso:—late L. grossus thick (freq. in the Vulgate). The word has developed in Eng. several senses not found in Fr.
The origin of the late L. word is unknown; chronology shows that it cannot be ad. OHG. grôz great; there is no probability that it is cogn. w. the synonymous crassus.]
A. adj.
I. With reference to bulk.
†1.
a. Thick, stout, massive, big. Obs.
14..Lydg. & Burgh Secrees 2660 With nekke to smal in proporcioun whoo be sene Is a fool..And ovir gross A lyeer detestable. 1516Life Bridget in Myrr. Our Ladye p. lvii, Whiche fro hyr byrthe had a great grosse throte moche foule & dyfformyd. 1570Dee Math. Pref., It [Architecture] is but for building of a house, Pallace, Church, Forte, or such like, grosse workes. 1600Vestry Bks. (Surtees) 132 For regestering the presentment into on grosse booke, iiij d. 1605Shakes. Lear iv. vi. 14 The Crowes and Choughes, that wing the midway ayre Shew scarce so grosse as Beetles. 1661Boyle Spring of Air (1682) 95 The particles of the Air (being so gross as not easily to pervade the Pores of the Bladder). 1667Milton P.L. vi. 552 With heavie pace the Foe Approaching gross and huge. 1687Dryden Hind & P. iii. 691 Your finger is more gross than the great monarch's loins. 1776G. Semple Building in Water 39 The Piers being extremely gross, increased the Rapidity of the Water between them. 1794Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 21 The grains will appear distinct, small or gross, coarse or fine.
absol.1624Wotton Archit. in Reliq. (1651) 229 The length thereof shall be six Diameters, of the grossest of the Pillar below.
b. Of a shoot or stalk: Thick, bulky. Now only (exc. dial.) with notion of abnormal growth: Luxuriant, rank.
1578Lyte Dodoens i. xxvi. 39 Orpyne hath a round grosse brittell stem [F. a la tige ronde et espesse]. 1597Gerarde Herbal i. cvi. §1. 176 A thick soft grosse stalk. a1682Sir T. Browne Tracts (1684) 11 An extraordinary Cluster, made up of many depending upon one gross stalk. 1747Wesley Prim. Physic (1762) 112 Burn to ashes..the gross Stalks, on which the red Coleworts grow. 1863Wise New Forest 283 Gross, often used in a good sense for luxuriant, and applied to the young green crops. 1881Masters in Encycl. Brit. XII. 213/2 Strong-growing pears..are grafted on the quince stock in order to restrict their tendency to form ‘gross’ shoots. 1882Garden 11 Mar. 169/1 Gross shoots and leaders only being tied in to check an uneven distribution of the sap.
†c. Of letters printed or written: Large. Obs.
c1470Henry Wallace vii. 110 The fyrst writtyng was gross letteris off bras. The secound gold, the thrid was siluir scheyne. 1705Wanley in Hearne Collect. 4 Aug. (O.H.S.) I. 24 Y⊇ King must have his Bible printed with a gross Letter. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. 182 The bill is then ordered to be engrossed, or written in a strong gross hand.
†d. gross meat [= F. grosse viande]: the flesh of large animals. (Cf. gros chare in chare n.4 1.)
The expression was used also in a different sense: see 12.
c1460J. Russell Bk. Nurture 461 The maner & forme of kervynge of metes þat byn groos, afftur my symplenes y haue shewed. 1477Norton Ord. Alch. vii. in Ashm. (1652) 103 Such heate, As Cookes make when they roast grosse Meate. 1697tr. C'tess D'Aunoy's Trav. (1706) 46 When 'tis gross Meat, they fasten it to a String, and so let it hang on the Fire.
†e. Of a voice: Big, loud, deep. Obs. rare—1.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vi. xii. (1495) 196 Males haue a more gretter and grosser voys in all maner of kynde of beestes.
† f. Hawking. to fly gross, i.e. at great birds.
1659Howell Vocab., Terms Arts etc. iv, To fly grosse, viz. at great birds. 1677Coles, Fly gross when hawks fly at great Birds, as Cranes.
2. Of persons or animals:
a. Big-bodied, corpulent, burly. (Now only dial.) † the Gross: transl. of F. le Gros as an epithet of certain Frankish and French sovereigns.
b. With mixture of other senses: Overfed, bloated with excess, unwholesomely or repulsively fat or corpulent. Hence said also of the ‘habit of body’.
1577J. Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 40 Surfetting lyke a grosse and swollen Epicure. a1578Lindsay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. I. 46 James..quho was callit gros because he was corpolent and growin of body. Ibid. 47 This James callit gros James. 1584Cogan Haven Health cciii. 170 b, A man who was before verie grosse and fat..within a yeare or two became slender. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 559 One of them is well knowne, my gracious Lord, a grosse fat man. 1609Bible (Douay) Deut. xxxii. 15 The beloved was made grosse [Vulg. incrassatus est]. 1610Bp. Carleton Jurisd. 196 Charles the grosse then Emperor. 1640Yorke Union Hon. 7 Doing his homage for the same to Lewis the Grosse, king of France. 1732Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 396 A full gross Habit of Body. 1744Eliza Heywood Female Spect. (1748) I. 297 She had been observed, some months past, to be more gross than usual, and had affected to wear a loose dress. 1833Marryat P. Simple (1863) 197 His gross habit of body rendered him very unfit for the climate. 1835Longfellow Outre-mer, Notary of Perigueux (1851) 113 He was a gross, corpulent fellow, raised from a full-blooded Gascon breed. 1880W. Cornwall Gloss., Gross, stout; big. ‘A gross man’.
†c. Of a fruit: Full of pulp, large and succulent.
1578Lyte Dodoens vi. xlii. 713 The sweete & grouse Peares [F. les poyres douces et grasses] are moystier and very little astringent.
†3. Of conspicuous magnitude; palpable, striking; plain, evident, obvious, easy to apprehend or understand. Obs.
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 408 Hoolynesse of lif techiþ rude men by groos ensaumple. 1551Robinson tr. More's Utop. (Arb.) 128 They haue very few lawes: and the plainer and grosser that anye interpretation is: that they allowe as most iuste. 1586Earl of Leicester in Leyc. Corr. (1844) 331 These things be so grosse as all men see them. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 250 These Lyes are like the Father that begets them, grosse as a Mountaine, open, palpable. 1601― All's Well i. iii. 178 Now to all sence 'tis grosse You loue my sonne. 1638Ford Fancies iv. i, Appear, Spadone! my proofs are pregnant and gross. 1690Dryden Don Sebastian iii. i, I might have marked it too: 'twas gross and palpable. a1715Burnet Own Time ii. (1724) I. 212 Where he retracted all he had said, in so gross a manner, that [etc.]. 1727De Foe Syst. Magic i. i. (1840) 8 We should presently give him up for a Magician in the grossest acceptation of the word, and say, in short, that he deals with the Devil. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §77 Which valediction, though in the gross sense, it might be said to contain little of Obligation.
quasi-adv.1603Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. iv. 82 To bee receiued plaine, Ile speake more grosse: Your Brother is to dye.
4. In concord with ns. of evil import, and serving as an intensive of their meaning: Glaring, flagrant, monstrous.
a. with ns. denoting vices, errors, faults, etc.
1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 4 Or as though this your tedious quarell about this word Private did ought els, but bewray your grosse ignorance? 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. iii. §3 To capitall heresies lesse inclined, yet vnto grosse superstition, more. 1630Prynne Anti-Armin. 125 We must make the effect more generall than its cause, which were a grosse absurdity. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. i. 10 The gross Folly and Stupidity of Atheists. 1709Berkeley Theory of Vision §75 The gross blunders that ingenious men have been forced into. 1732Law Serious C. ii. (ed. 2) 16 So gross and prophane a Sin. 1781J. Moore View Soc. It. (1790) I. xxxix. 431 The grossest sophistry will pass on men's understandings. 1809–10Coleridge Friend (1865) 134 The errors of the aristocratic party were full as gross and far less excusable. 1845S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. III. 47 It is full of the grossest improbabilities. 1847Grote Greece ii. xxvii. (1862) III. 41 An act of the grossest perfidy. 1880C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark ix. 88 They [plants]..all died through gross carelessness in their removal to Darjiling. 1884Church Bacon i. 26 Bacon is able..to show gross credulity and looseness of assertion on the part of the Roman Catholic advocate.
b. with personal designations.
1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. 302 The idolaters beyond all measure grosse Demonomists. 1817G. S. Faber Eight Dissert. (1845) II. vi. iii. 30 No plea of conditionality..can save them from the charge of being gross impostors. 1869Trollope He Knew xx. (1878) 110 [He] had in his opinion made a gross fool of himself.
II. With reference to comprehensiveness.
†5.
a. Of a denomination of value or weight: Relatively large; containing lower denominations. Of a mode of reckoning: Proceeding by large units. Obs.
1542Recorde Gr. Artes (1543) I viij b, That I call a grosse denomination, whiche doeth contayne vnder it manye other subtiller or smaller: as a pound in respect to shyllynges is a grosse denomination. 1680H. More Apocal. Apoc. 123 The things foretold..are not to terminate on a year, but rather require that grosser numbring by Semitimes. 1682J. Scarlett Exchanges 115 Bills payable in currant Moneys out of Bank, must be paid in large (Gross) Moneys, and not in small pieces, as Stivers. 1801A. Ranken Hist. France I. i. v. 492 Corn and wine..may be bartered by the gross quantity.
†b. a hundred gross = 112 lb. or 1 cwt. fifty gross = 56 lb. or ½ cwt. Obs.
1659Willsford Scales Comm. 2 In all Commodities where a hundred gross is mentioned, it is 112 lb. 1762Eliot in Phil. Trans. LIII. 58 The barrs of iron which have hitherto been made of sand, and from fifty to fifty gross, hope in time to have them reach to seventy pounds weight each.
6. a. Entire, total, whole. Now only (opposed to net) of an amount, value, weight, number, or the like, before necessary deductions have been made. Also in advb. phrase † gross sale: by wholesale. gross reproduction rate: a reproduction rate representing the average number of girls born to each woman of a population when deaths before the end of the child-bearing period are neglected, calculated from the average fertility rates of each age-group during the period considered.
1523Fitzherb. Husb. §36 And therfore he that byeth grosse sale, and retayleth, muste nedes be a wynner. ― Surv. xvii. (1539) 36 Cast togyther in one grosse some. 1571Digges Pantom. P iv b, The producte is the grosse capacitie. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. i. 199 The most hollow louer..that may bee chosen out of the grosse band of the vnfaithfull. 1660Willsford Scales Comm. 23 The Tare..subtracted from the grosse weight. 1769Junius Lett. vii. (1804) I. 45, I dare say you will not sell it either for a gross sum, or for an annuity upon lives. 1776Adam Smith W.N. i. xi. (1869) I. 179 A sixth part of the gross produce may be reckoned the average rent of the tin mines of Cornwall. 1806A. Hunter Culina 138 The gross amount is one hundred and ninety-nine times. 1837Whewell Hist. Induct. Sci. (1857) II. 229 Making a gross number of above 8000. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 388 The net receipt was little short of fifty thousand pounds..The gross receipt was about seventy thousand pounds. 1868Gladstone Juv. Mundi v. (1869) 143 The gross figures of the chronology may be exaggerated. 1879Lubbock Addr. Pol. & Educ. viii. 149 Over-insurance, insurance of gross-freight, and the law as regards seaworthiness on time policies. 1896Law Times C. 508/1 The gross personal estate is sworn at {pstlg}37,405..the net at {pstlg}29,389. 1928R. R. Kuczynski Balance Births & Deaths I. ii. 25, 1·958 would then be what we may call the gross reproduction rate of Sweden in 1891–1900. 1945New Biol. I. 42 A gross reproduction rate sustained at a level below 1·0 signifies that no reduction of mortality could save the community from eventual extinction. 1970W. D. Borrie Growth & Control World Popul. vi. 146 In terms of the gross reproduction rate there seems little danger of population decline among European peoples.
†b. Main, the great majority of. Obs.
1692Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 502 Admirall Russell with the grosse fleet arrived at Torbay on Friday last. 1793Gibbon Misc. Wks. (1814) III. 562 The gross mass of the laity..were more addicted to the exercises of the body than to those of the mind.
c. gross national product, the total monetary value of all goods produced and services provided in a country during one year.
1947J. F. Dewhurst America's Needs & Resources i. iv. 52/1 Gross national product represents the gross value of all the goods and services produced by business enterprises, including farmers, professional persons and other self-employed individuals. 1962Listener 17 May 836/1 Economic growth is a purely materialistic concept. The rate of growth is usually defined as the rate of increase in gross national product or in gross national product per head, that is productivity, gross national product itself being the sum of all goods and services for which money changes hands. 1969Times 12 Feb. 9/1 Although the gross national product (g.n.p.) may be increasing at about 4 per cent a year, it has to be shared out among a population growing at 2·5 per cent.
7. Concerned with large masses or outlines; general, opposed to particular. Now chiefly with reference to Anatomy or Pathology, opposed to microscopic. † gross average = general average (see average 4).
1433Lydg. St. Edmund iii. 927 Ingland hath suffryd this tribut ful terryble, Fond fauour noon, groos nor particuler. 1494Fabyan Chron. vii. 437 All grose maters that concernyd the gouernaunce of his realme. 1702Bp. Patrick Josh. xvi. 8 This is the inheritance of the tribe of Ephraim by their families.—A gross description of it. 1727–51Chambers Cycl. s.v. Average, For gross or common average to have place. 1748Hartley Observ. Man i. ii. 141 To determine the Seat of the Pain within gross Limits. 1755N. Magens Insurances I. 6 The Damage should not have been declared a gross Average, but a particular one on the Goods damaged. 1888Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. I. 209 Anatomical results have a reputation for superior credibility, and it is a generally accepted idea that within the limits of gross anatomy the reputation is well grounded. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 849 A supposed drunken fit which may eventually turn out to be a state due to gross cerebral lesion.
III. With reference to density or consistency.
8. Dense, thick. (Often with mixture of the sense of branch IV.)
†a. of liquids, soils, and things generally. Obs.
1460–70Bk. Quintessence i. 5 Lift vp þe glas as it stondith, and ȝe schal se in þickenes and cleernesse a difference bitwene þe quintam essenciam sublymed, and þe grose mater þat is in þe necke. 1533Elyot Cast. Helthe i. (1541) 2 The urine redde & grosse. 1563B. Googe Eglogs (Arb.) 90 And put my Plow, in grosse vntylled soyle. 1578Lyte Dodoens iii. x. 329 It cureth the blooddy flixe..being..dronken with some astringent liquor, as..grosse and thicke redde wine. 1608Topsell Serpents (1658) 809 Beaten together with the grossest decoction of bitter Lupines. 1671Salmon Syn. Med. iii. xxiv. 454 Staphsacre, the seed is Emetick, and brings forth gross Flegm with violence. 1691Ray Creation i. (1692) 38 The most subtile Body..may become as gross, and heavy, and stiff as Steel or Stone.
b. of air, vapour, darkness. arch. or poet.
a1592H. Smith Wks. (1867) II. 64 The darkness of Egypt, the which, as Moses saith, was so gross that it might be felt. 1660Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xvii. 124 The difference of the grosser English Air, and that of Italy and France. 1714Pope Rape of Lock ii. 83 Or suck the mists in grosser air below, Or dip their pinions in the painted bow. 1784Cowper Task iii. 495 Like a gross fog Bœotian rising fast. 1822Shelley Chas. I, ii. 450, I saw a gross vapour hovering in a stinking ditch. 1839Longfellow Celestial Pilot 2 Through the gross vapours, Mars grows fiery red.
absol.1850Tennyson In Mem. xli, As flies the lighter thro' the gross.
c. said of things material or perceptible to the senses, as contrasted with what is spiritual, ethereal, or impalpable.
1509Fisher Funeral Serm. C'tess Richmond Wks. (1876) 304 It [the body when it dieth] is so grosse that it occupyeth a rowme. 1530Rastell Bk. Purgat. ii. vi, The soule of man may use hys operacyon & properte wythout occupyenge of the grosse bodye. 1664Power Exp. Philos. iii. 155 Those grosser, and far more material, Effluviums, from Electrical and Aromatical Bodies. 1667Milton P.L. vi. 661 Spirits of purest light, Purest at first, now gross by sinning grown. 1700Dryden Cymon & Iph. 499 They gave you love to lighten up your mind, And purge the grosser parts. 1736Butler Anal. i. i. Wks. 1874 I. 28 It does not appear..that the relation of this gross body to the reflecting being, is..necessary to thinking. 1831Brewster Newton (1855) I. vi. 145 He supposes a subtle and elastic ether to pervade all gross bodies. 1841Elphinstone Hist. Ind. I. 221 At birth, each soul is invested with a subtile body, which again is clad in a grosser body.
†9. ‘Solid’ in the geometrical sense; having three dimensions. Obs. rare—1.
1571Digges Pantom. iii. Defin., Q, A Sphere is a grosse or solide body comprehended of one conuex Superficies.
†10. Of a body of armed men: Compact, solid.
1579Fenton Guicciard. (1618) 289 The Almaines..casting themselues in a grosse squadron, their wiues in the middest, made a valiant defence for certaine houres. a1608Sir F. Vere Comm. (1657) 77 The enemy, seeing no grosse troop to follow them, began to take heart. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 570 Another part in Squadrons and gross Bands On bold adventure to discover wide That dismal World. 1670Dryden 2nd Pt. Conq. Granada iii. i. Wks. 1883 IV. 162, I can, with few, their gross battalion face.
IV. With reference to texture or quality; coarse.
†11.
a. Consisting of comparatively large parts or particles. Hence, in disparaging sense: Wanting in fineness or delicacy of texture, granulation, or outline. gross grinding: that which leaves the substance in coarse particles. (Opposed to fine. Cf. coarse 2.) Obs.
1504W. Atkynson tr. De Imitatione i. xxv. 178 They be porely fedde, content with vyle & grosse clothynge. 1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. ccxv. [ccxi.] 661 Many had no armure but their cootes of wadmoll, and course grose clothe. 1549Privy Council Acts (1890) II. 350 Fine corne powder, ij last; gros [ditto]. 1584Cogan Haven Health cxxvii. (1636) 126 Take a pound of good Cinamom, and beat it grosse. 1599Hakluyt Voy. II. ii. 131 We sounded and had 15 fadom water and grosse red sand. 1624Wotton Archit. in Reliq. (1651) 291 That fine and delicate Sculptures be helped with Neerness, and Gross with distance. 1641French Distill. iii. (1651) 78 With red hot gross powder of brick imbibe the water. 1727–46Thomson Summer 888 The parent-sun himself.. the roseate bloom Of beauty blasting, gives the gloomy hue And feature gross. 1742Lond. & Country Brew. i. (ed. 4) 72 A gross Grinding is best. 1756Nugent Gr. Tour I. 40 Both men and women [Dutch] have the grossest shapes. 1769De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. II. 386 As the Stone is of a reddish, crumbling Kind..Time has made it look gross and rough. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §186, I afterwards added..tarras, or other gross matter.
†b. Of a file, whetstone, etc.: Coarse, rough. Obs.
1606Chapman Mons. D'Olive Plays 1873 I. 237, I am ashamde of my selfe that euer I chusde such a Grosse⁓blocke to whet my wits on. 1658tr. Porta's Nat. Magic x. ix. 264 Shave off the peal [of a Citron] with a gross Steal-File. 1680Moxon Mech. Exerc. 221 Its sharp Edge scrapes or shaves off the little roughness the grosser Tools left upon the Work.
†12.
a. Of articles of food, or commodities of any kind: Coarse, inferior, common. Obs.
1474Caxton Chesse 64 Many fooles daigne not to vse grose metes of labourers. c1530Pol. Rel. & L. Poems 29 Feede thi howce with groce, & not with delycate meete. 1590Disc. conc. Sp. Invas. in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) II. 157 Casting off the bulk of her, together with certain gross stuff therein, as..altogether unprofitable. 1622Bacon Hen. VII, Mor. & Hist. Wks. (1860) 439 Ships of London merchants, fraught with some gross and slight wares. 1624T. Scott Eng. Sp. Pilgr. viii. 78 This grossura is the same with that wee call grosse meat. a1687Petty Pol. Arith. i. (1691) 20 One sort of Vessels..for cheap gross Goods, another for..precious Commodities. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. xii. (1840) 245 Dealing only in fish and oil, and such gross commodities. 1763Brit. Mag. IV. 547 Nor matters it, the joint how coarse, or gross, Where a good stomach is the best of sauce.
b. Of diet: † (a) In early use, plain, not delicate; (b) in recent use, uncleanly or repulsive in quality. gross feeder, one who feeds grossly; said transf. of plants.
1599H. Buttes Dyets drie Dinner E vij b, Best in cold weather, for grosse and homely feeders. 1662J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 85 The subjection in which they are born, and the grosse feeding they have..they are taught to be content with any thing. 1836Lane Mod. Egypt. II. 347 Their diet is extremely gross. 1845Florist's Jrnl. 57 All the cultivated alliaceous plants that I am acquainted with are what may be termed gross feeders. 1861G. J. Whyte-Melville Mkt. Harb. 32 ‘Well, sir’, says I, ‘the mare's a gross feeder’.
13. a. Lacking in delicacy of perception; dull, stupid. Obs. of persons, their opinions and utterances; arch. of faculties, after Matt. xiii. 15.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 1 b, My wytte is grosse, my selfe rude, and my tonge very barbarouse. 1535Coverdale Matt. xiii. 15 For y⊇ hert of this people is waxed grosse, & their eares are thick of hearinge. 1579J. Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 170 Such grosse questions are to be aunswered with slender reasons. c1580J. Jeffere Bugbears i. ii. in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr. (1897) XCVIII. 309 Is his head so grosse, that you can bob him? 1602T. Fitzherbert Apol. 38 Our aduersaries..shew themselues very grosse in that they seeke to abolish altogeather the vse of Images. c1630Milton Arcades 73 The heavenly tune, which none can hear Of human mould with grosse unpurged ear. 1662J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 80 The opinion the Muscovites have of themselves..is sottish, gross, and impertinent. 1691Ray Creation i. (1692) 45 Our Eyes and Senses..are too gross to discern the Curiosity of the Workmanship of Nature. 1727De Foe Syst. Magic i. i. (1840) 10 Attempted by the grossest and dullest fancies on earth. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) II. 185 The grossest, and yet the most useful of all the senses, is that of feeling. 1823Byron Juan vii. lxxvii, Suwarrow, who but saw things in the gross, Being much too gross to see them in detail. 1844Whittier Ezekiel 105 Men..gross of ear, of vision dim.
†b. Of workmanship, method of proceeding, etc.: Rough, ‘rough and ready’; clumsy. Obs.
1513Douglas æneis i. Prol. 312 My werk is mair obscure and gross. 1594Plat Jewell-ho. i. 43 Hops..whose poles stand vpright after our ordenary and grosse manner. 1600Dekker Gentle Craft Wks. 1873 I. 30 Fine ladies, my lads, commit their feet to our apparelling, put grosse worke to Hans. 1641Wilkins Math. Magic ii. iv. (1648) 173 But this would have been too grosse a way for so excellent an artificer. 1657Austen Fruit Trees i. 11 Without which [Gardens] Buildings and Pallaces are but grosse handiworks.
†c. Wanting in clearness or definiteness; rough, approximate, general, indefinite. Of an instrument: Wanting in delicacy. Obs.
1534More On the Passion Wks. 1320/1 Many a poore simple soule with a groce playne faythe. 1678Dryden All for Love Pref., The crowd cannot be presumed to have more than a gross instinct, of what pleases or displeases them. 1684R. Waller Nat. Exper. 7 This Instrument [a thermometer] is more gross then the rest. 1690Locke Hum. Und. iii. x. §22 Some gross and confus'd Conceptions Men indeed..have, to which they apply the common Words of their Language. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. v. 181 The gross estimations of heat and cold which every one makes from his own sensation. 1748Hartley Observ. Man i. iii. 269 The First ascertains the Ideas belonging to Words and Phrases in a gross Manner. 1768Woman of Honor II. 128 Mr. Salway..not so much as knowing where he lived, but on a gross guess that it might be at his mother's, gave directions for his being carried thither. 1796Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. Pref. 6 The gross indications of the unassisted senses. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) II. 467 The expression of not being assets is a gross expression.
14. a. Of persons: Rude, uninstructed, ignorant. Now rare.
1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. i. 19 Peter and John..all grosse vnlerned men, had learned nothing in mennes schole. 1563Homilies ii. Agst. Idolatry iii. 67 b, The ignoraunt and grosse people. 1598Barret Theor. Warres i. i. 5 Comparaisoned, as the Phisition Theorike to the grosse practitioner. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 712 The Inhabitants were so grosse before they were discovered, that they knew not the use of fire. 1833S. Hoole Discourses v. 67 His studies confined to one single book, the law of a gross unlettered people. 1857Buckle Civiliz. I. viii. 517 They easily gained over the ordinary citizens who were then a gross and uneducated body.
†b. Of a language, dialect: Rude, uncultivated. Of expressions: Unlearned, uncultured, untechnical.
1513Douglas æneis i. Prol. 43, I wald into my rurale wlgar gros, Write sum savoring of thi Eneados. 1589R. Harvey Pl. Perc. 11 Vse a grosse tearme amongst huntsmen in chaze, you shall be leasht for your labor. 1638F. Junius Paint. Ancients 248 He grew..to have..an eloquent tongue, without any affectation or grosse countrey termes. 1670–98R. Lassels Voy. Italy Pref. 2 They spake but coarse Lombard language and gross Scotch. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. liii. III. 315 The vulgar dialect of the city was gross and barbarous.
15. Extremely coarse in behaviour or morals; brutally lacking in refinement or decency.
a. of persons.
c1532G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 1017 Grose folke of rude affection, dronkerdes..lubbers, knaves. c1620in Farr S.P. Jas. I (1848) 95 Love's a starre grosse hearts refining. 1642Rogers Naaman 50 Rests upon his smooth civill bottome, that he is no grosse person. 1667Milton P.L. i. 491 Belial..than whom a Spirit more lewd Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love Vice for it self. 1693Dryden Juvenal (1697) 161 Agamemnon's Wife Was a gross Butcher, with a bloody Knife. 1772Burke Corr. (1844) I. 402 The Turks..grow more gross in the very native soil of civility and refinement. 1817Moore Lalla R. (1824) 178 Beauty, curtain'd from the sight Of the gross world. 1874Bancroft Footpr. Time i. 59 A people are debased and gross in proportion to their ignorance. 1881Evans in Sp. Com. 1 Cor. Introd. 239 Society of high culture, but in morals lax, even gross.
absol.1829I. Taylor Enthus. ii (1867) 31 It will not be so with the gross and the uneducated.
b. of habits, language, pleasures, etc.
1588Shakes. L.L.L. i. i. 29 The grosser manner of these worlds delights, He throwes vpon the grosse worlds baser slaues. 1651Hobbes Leviath. i. viii. 38 The acquisition of the grosse pleasures of the Senses. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 154 They have certainly gross ideas. 1777Priestley Philos. Necess. 189 You will blush when you reflect a moment upon things so very gross as these. 1791Boswell Johnson Jan. an. 1749, Some of them [Juvenal's Satires]..were too gross for imitation. 1838E. Brown Serm. iv. 65 Some are under the dominion of the grosser lusts, as drunkenness and sensuality. c1850Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.) 400 He at length broke out in terms of the grossest abuse, and altogether unworthy a king. 1884‘Rita’ Vivienne i. i, Of life in its grosser, harsher phases Albert knew scarce anything.
16. Comb.:
a. parasynthetic, as gross-bodied, gross-brained, gross-headed, gross-jawed, gross-lived, gross-mannered, gross-minded, gross-natured, gross-pated, gross-witted adjs.
1635R. N. Camden's Hist. Eliz. ii. an. 22. 207 A man exceeding *grosse-bodyed. 1696tr. Du Mont's Voy. Levant 7, I willingly leave all those Gross-body'd Wines to the Germans. 1727A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. I. xxviii. 346 Their Trees are not so high nor gross bodied as those which grow on the Continent. 1877Dowden Shaks. Prim. vi. 99 We know him to be a gross-bodied, self-indulgent old sinner.
1600Dr. Dodypoll ii. i. in Bullen O. Pl. III. 112 Asse that I was, dull, sencelesse, *grosse braynd fool.
1561Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtyer ii. M b, They haue shewed themselues but *grossheaded. 1642Milton Apol. Smect. Wks. (1851) 256 The conceit that all who are not Prelaticall, are grosse-headed.
1812J. Corry in Mem. T. Moore (1856) VIII. 131 The..*gross-hearted herd of Dublin.
1897Manch. Guardian 13 Oct., *Gross-jawed and splendid humanity.
1597A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 3/1 A thicke, and *grosse-lived man.
1853Lynch Self-Improv. vi. 142 The ignorant and *gross-mannered.
1768–74Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 424 The voluptuous, the debauched, the giddy, the *grossminded.
1552T. Barnabe in Strype Eccl. Mem. II. App. E. 152 They of France accept us to be *gross-natured people and covetous. 1611Florio, Grosso di pasta, *grosse-pated.
1587Golding De Mornay xxvi. 409 They make the counsell of the Aegyptians very *grossewitted, in casting themselues away so rashly.
b. quasi-adverbial and complementary, as gross-daubed, gross-fed, gross-ground, gross-living adjs.
1670Dryden 2nd Pt. Conq. Granada iii. i, Marriage views the *gross-daubed landscape near.
a1743Savage Verse on Hill's Gideon 52 Like *gross-fed spirits, sick in purer air, Their earthly souls by their dull taste disclose.
1653Walton Angler i. x. 151 Sweet *gross-ground barley-malt.
1898J. Caird Univ. Addr. 203 Her well-meaning but somewhat stupid and very *gross-living husband, George II.
B. quasi-n. (the adj. used absol.) and n.
†1. by gross: in large quantities, wholesale. Obs.
1500Galway Arch. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 391 To sell the said warres..as well by grosse as retaylle. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 319 We that sell by gross..Haue not the grace to grace it with such show. 1660Willsford Scales Comm. 103 Merchandizes and all Commodities are sold either by number, weight, or measure, and those by gross or retail.
2. in gross, in the gross. [F. en gros.]
a. In a general way, generally, without going into particulars; in the main, on the whole. Cf. A. 7. Now rare.
1430–40Lydg. Bochas vi. xi. (1554) 158 This tragedy of the great Pompey Declareth in grose the chief occasion. Why he and Cesar gan fyrst to werrey. 1591Horsey Trav. (Hakl. Soc.) App. 296, I was..greevosly complayned of to hir Majesty in grose. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. iii. ii. 160 The full summe of me Is sum of nothing: which to terme in grosse, Is an vnlessoned girle. 1601Holland Pliny I. 127 The measure of the sea coast..I wil expresse generally and in grosse. 1625Burges Pers. Tithes 49 The former Statutes spake of them [Personal Tithes] only in Grosse; This declareth of what in particular they shall arise. 1681–6J. Scott Chr. Life (1747) III. 631 It cannot be supposed that the God of Truth would approve any Doctrine in the gross, if any Part or Proposition of it had been false. 1682Dryden Relig. Laici 322 The unlettered Christian, who believes in gross Plods on to Heaven and ne'er is at a loss. 1707Col. Rec. Pennsylv. II. 370 He could very easily deny these articles in Gross. 1748Hartley Observ. Man i. iii. 351 That Uncertainty and Confusion, to which Persons who take things merely in the gross, are liable. 1775Burke Sp. Conc. Amer. Wks. III. 101 You cannot refuse in the gross, what you have so often acknowledged in detail. 1822Hazlitt Table-t. Ser. ii. iv. (1869) 107 We take things in the gross or in the detail, according to the occasion. 1874Trench Sacred Lat. Poetry (ed. 3) Pref. 10 It is the duty of each successive age of the Church, as not to accept the past in the gross, so neither in the gross to reject it. 1899Daily News 29 July 6/6 To take away in detail what seems to be given in the gross.
†b. In a body; ‘en masse’. Obs.
1450–70Golagros & Gaw. 1168 Heir ye ar gaderit in grosse, al the gretest Of gomys that grip has, vndir my gouernyng. 1614Raleigh Hist. World ii. (1634) 406 The army of Juda prest Abner in grosse, and brake him. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. v. §139 At this first triumphant muster the members of both Houses appeared in gross. 1710Let. in Select. Harl. Misc. (1793) 561 It was not safe..either to let the bill pass, or to have it rejected in gross.
†c. In bulk, in large quantities, on a large scale, wholesale: opposed to by († in) retail. Obs.
1538Fitzherb. Just. Peas 109 The But, Tone,..Barel or Roundelet to be sold in grosse. 1540–1Elyot Image Govt. (1556) 60 b, Of suche straungers it was lefull to the Romaynes to bie in grosse, and retayle. 1646H. Lawrence Comm. Angells 125 Love hath given all in grosse, and therefore can reteyne nothing in retayle. 1661Cowley Disc. Govt. O. Cromwell in Verses & Ess. (1687) 73 Things that are too many to be number'd, and must only be weighed in gross. 1667Lond. Gaz. No. 150/4 Renish Wines in Gross at 6l. the Ame, and 12d. the Quart by Retail. 1749Fielding Tom Jones xii. i, The learned world are..imposed upon to buy a second time in fragments and by retail what they have already in gross. 1799W. Tooke View Russian Emp. III. 142 Nowhere..is the fishery carried on so much in the gross as here. 1802–12Bentham Rat. Judic. Evid. (1827) IV. 527 How inconsistent and absurd, to do away the mischief in retail, and, in the very self-same shape, leave it to remain in gross! 1818Byron Beppo viii, To bid their cook..ride to the Strand, and buy in gross..Ketchup, Soy, [etc.]
†d. In full; nothing being omitted or withheld. Obs.
1606Chapman Mons. D'Olive ii. i. D 2, If youle deliuer me your mind in grose Why so I shall expresse it as I can. 1641Prynne Antip. To Rdr. 19 Behold the latter part in Epitome, till thou enjoy it in grosse. 1678Trans. Crt. Spain 78 He came..to tell me in gross what had been done. 1774J. Bryant Mythol. II. 479 Many writers have taken the account in gross.
e. Law. [med.L. in grosso.] Said of that which is absolute and independent, belonging to the person, and not to a manor; esp. in advowson, villain in gross. common in gross (see common n. 6).
a1626Bacon Max. & Uses Com. Law i. (1636) 2 If I be seised of an advowson in grosse, and [etc.]. 1642Perkins' Prof. Bk. i. §61. 28 A rent common in grosse, advowson in grosse and villeine in grosse can not be granted for yeares..without deed. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Common, Common in gross, is a liberty to have common alone, that is, without any land or tenement in another man's land. 1767Blackstone Comm. II. 93 Else they [villeins] were in gross, or at large, that is, annexed to the person of the lord, and transferrable by deed from one owner to another. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) VI. 90 Such a will as in the present case, would be sufficient to pass a term in gross. 1844Williams Real Prop. (1877) 340 Another important kind of separate incorporeal hereditament is an advowson in gross. 1891Sir R. V. Williams in Law Times' Rep. LXV. 608/2 Such a right of property may have a legal existence as an easement in gross to the exclusion of the grantor.
† f. In solid form. Obs.
1748Earthquake Peru i. 122 Among Minerals the Pyrites, both in Gross and in Vapour.
3. The gross or coarse part of anything; the dregs, dross. Obs. exc. dial.
1708J. Philips Cyder ii. 316 And now thy Wine's transpicuous, purg'd from all It's earthy Gross. 1886Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Gross, scum; dross of melting metals or other liquids.
†4.
a. The greater part; the majority, the bulk. Obs.
1625Bacon Ess. Viciss. Things (Arb.) 571 Comets..haue likewise Power and Effect, ouer the Grosse and Masse of Things. c1645[see gregarian]. 1656Sir J. Finett For. Ambass. 164 Intreating me to proceed with the grosse of his Traine. 1670G. H. Hist. Cardinals ii. iii. 194 The gross of the quarrel was compos'd by the Treaty at Pisa. 1677Plot Oxfordsh. 99 The gross of the stone is somwhat whiter. a1682Sir T. Browne Tracts (1684) 132 So much still remaineth with us that it maketh the gross of our language. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 177 Bamboos make the gross of the Woods. 1712Steele Spect. No. 502 ⁋3 The gross of an audience is composed of two sorts of people. 1726Butler Serm. Rolls Chap. xiii. 261 It was doubtless intended, that Life should be very much a Pursuit to the Gross of Mankind. 1753Hanway Trav. (1762) I. iii. xxxii. 140, I delivered the gross of my baggage to the hahdgee. c1766Burke Tracts Popery Laws Wks. IX. 391 This denial of landed property to the gross of the people has this further evil effect.
b. esp. Of an army or fleet: The main body. Obs. exc. arch. Cf. A 6 b.
1600J. Dymmok Ireland (1843) 40 The Lord Lieutenant..presented a charge to the rebells grosse of horse and foote. 1633T. Stafford Pac. Hib. i. iii. (1810) 44 The grosse of the rebells had left their standing in the plaine. 1666Pepys Diary 27 Sept., The gross of the French fleete are gone home again. 1691Dryden K. Arthur i. Wks. 1884 VIII. 144 The Saxon gross begins to move. 1728Morgan Algiers I. iv. 158 His Horse immediately ran away full Speed and got back to the gross of the Army. 1865Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xviii. ii. (1872) VII. 123 Schwerin, with the gross of the army, pushes into Mähren.
c. The sum, sum total; the whole. Now usu. (chiefly U.S.), the total amount earned or ‘grossed’ by a film, theatrical production, etc.
1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Sept. 135 By much wrestling to leese the grosse. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. i. iii. 56, I cannot instantly raise vp the grosse Of full three thousand ducats. 1614Raleigh Hist. World ii. (1634) 440 The grosse, and totall is not in that place set downe. 1625Bacon Ess., Viciss. Things (Arb.) 571 Comets, out of question, haue likewise Power and Effect ouer the Grosse and Masse of Things. 1728Pemberton Newton's Philos. 9 One sort of genius dwells too much upon the gross and sum of things. 1930F. Scott Fitzgerald in Sat. Even. Post 18 Jan. 109/1 A hit at the New Strand, a hit at the Prince of Wales, and the weekly grosses pouring in. 1969Gish & Pinchot Lillian Gish xii. 157 The Birth of a Nation has become the all-time money maker in film history. There have been so many black-market prints in circulation that no one will ever know its true gross.
†5. Chiefly Mil. A large body; a mass. Obs.
1617Moryson Itin. ii. i. i. 36 Their foot are so unwilling to fight in battell or grosse. 1626Rayleigh's Ghost 5 The use of the Sword, push of the Pike, bringing of Grosses bodie to bodie, [etc.]. 1646Codrington Life Earl Essex 31 Which caused our foot to unite themselves into one Grosse. 1651Davenant Gondibert i. v. li, Every where where rallies made a gross He charged. a1700Dryden (J.), After they have separated themselves in many petty divisions, they rejoin one by one into a gross.
transf.1666Dryden Ann. Mirab. ccxxxiii, The fire, mean time, walks in a broader gross.
Add:[A.] [IV.] [15.] c. In weakened use: extremely unpleasant; disgusting, repulsive, obnoxious. slang (orig. U.S.).
1959Amer. Speech XXXIV. 155 Terms expressing approval or disapproval are intelligible to the initiated only, for their real meaning is often dependent upon intonation. Great, the greatest, gross,..and tremendous are either complimentary or derogatory, depending upon how they are said. 1969Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) III. 6 Gross, displeasing; unpleasant. 1972Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 29 July 71/3 ‘Gross’ has always meant something coarse and vulgar. But as used by the teens, it runs the gamut of awfulness from homework to something the cat contributed to ecology. 1978J. Hyams Pool viii. 110 ‘She really thinks he's gross, huh?’.. ‘The pits,’ said Freda. 1982M. Kington Miles & Miles 108 This peanut butter is really gross compared to Sun-Pat, which is ace. 1991D. Lodge Paradise News iii. iii. 272 ‘Then I threw up,’ said Russ. ‘God, how gross,’ Ellie muttered, averting her eyes from the screen.
▸ gross domestic product n. the annual total value of goods produced and services provided in a country, excluding transactions with other countries; abbreviated GDP; cf. gross national product at A. 6c.
1951Economist 14 Apr. 881/1 (table) 1949... *Gross domestic product..11,426 [{pstlg} Million]... Net income from abroad..27. 1987Washington Post (Nexis) 25 Jan. k1 Since our gross domestic product was increasing 2.5 percent, that meant an overproportionate amount of the demand was already fulfilled by imports. 2001F. Popcorn & A. Hanft Dict. Future 78 The weight of the gross domestic product in the United States was less in 1997 than 1999, even though its dollar value had grown by 70 percent.
▪ V. gross, v.|grəʊs|
Also 5 groce-n, -yn, groson, 6 gross(e, 5–6, 9 dial. grose, (6 groace, groce, 8 groze).
[f. gross a.]
†1. With up: = engross 1. Obs.
1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy iv. xxxiv. (1513) Y v b, Vnto tyme that they were assuryd Of the ende grosyd [1555 groced] vp in dede. 1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. xliii. 136 When these letters were wryten and grosed vp in Frensshe and in Latyn, then they were redde before y⊇ kyng.
†2.
a. With up: = engross 3, 4. Obs.
c1440Promp. Parv. 214/2 Groson, or grocyn vp, or take mony thyngys togedur, ingrosso. 1530Palsgr. 575/2, I grosse, I take or heape up thynges a great, je engrosse. This man groseth up all the market. c1550Bale K. Johan (Camden) 3 Pore wydowys howsys ye grosse up by long prayers.
b. absol. (See quots.) dial.
1796W. Marshall Yorksh. (ed. 2) II. 324 Groze, to save or lay up. 1855Robinson Whitby Gloss., Grose, to save or amass wealth.
†3.
a. intr. To become gross or great; to increase, amount.
b. trans. To render gross or coarse. Obs.
1548Forrest Pleas. Poesye 96*/449 When they haue groaced vnto a some, Of scoarys or hundredis as they appoynte shall. 1635Heywood Hierarch. iv. 211 The subtile essence of the Angels..was grossed in their fall Of courser temper than th' Origenall.
4. a. trans. To make a gross profit of; to earn a total of.
1884Harper's Mag. Jan. 220/1 Captain..Lawrence..once ‘grossed’ $60,000. 1887Pall Mall G. 18 Mar. 3/2 Having grossed over {pstlg}4,000. 1936Wodehouse Laughing Gas iv. 52 My last picture but one grossed twenty-two thousand there on the week. 1970Observer 19 Apr. 9/3 The..brokerage business brought him far more prestige than cash; specifically, it grossed something like $60,000 a year, but the firm's overhead was high.
b. With up: to count, add as part of the total; to treat (a payment) as if it were a larger taxable amount of the same net value. Hence grossed ppl. a.; ˈgrossing vbl. n.
1931Economist 28 Feb. 456/2 This [tax] is charged..on the ‘grossed-up’ dividend. 1954Times 24 Feb. 12/4 When discussing M.P.s' emoluments we ought to gross-up the expectations of pension rights. 1959Economist 11 Apr. 146/1 For that rare bird paying surtax at the top rate, the ‘grossed up’ yield on savings certificates earning {pstlg}4 4s. od. tax free has fallen by over a third. 1969Times 25 Jan. 2/3 Some estimates had been made by means of plain ‘grossing-up’—a very loose way of computing.
▸ trans. slang (chiefly U.S.). to gross out: to disgust or repel.
J. E. Lighter Hist. Dict. Amer. Slang(1994) I. 976/2 records an oral use from 1965.
1966Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) 1 ii. 3 She grossed me out with that joke. 1970N.Y. Times 1 Feb. ii. 23 Hardly noticed on the East Coast, Altamont grossed out the West. 1987San Diego Union 30 Jan. e2/2 My legs are too heavy from the hips down... I would gross people out if I wore a skirt or dress. 1992Fly Rod & Reel Jan.–Feb. 56/1, I assumed he knew these bugs were big, but he and a lot of others didn't. They were grossed out. 2002Glamour July 159/2 This is the guy who..would eat raw tuna and onion rings before snogging scenes to gross out Sarah Michelle Gellar.
▪ VI. gross(e
variant of grush v. |