A.Word.A.Day --grouse

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Feb 4, 2022

This week’s theme
Homonyms

This week’s words
waffle
taw
chum
marl
grouse

“From now on, friends, we will be a single clan! Let’s all sing the love song of the grouse together... and no grousing!”

Image: Asterix Comics

Make Straya Grouse Again

Photo: Peter / eBay

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There’s a word for it

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

grouse

PRONUNCIATION:

(grous)

MEANING:

verb intr.: To complain or to grumble.
noun: A complaint.

ETYMOLOGY:

Of uncertain origin, perhaps from Old French groucier/grousser (to murmur or grumble). Earliest documented use: 1887.

MEANING:

adjective: Wonderful.

ETYMOLOGY:

Australian slang, of uncertain origin. Earliest documented use: 1941.

MEANING:

noun: Any of various birds that are typically plump, ground-dwelling, and have feathered legs.

ETYMOLOGY:

Of uncertain origin, perhaps from northern English dialect crouse (cheerful). Earliest documented use: 1531.

USAGE:

“‘Woman up,’ Sebille groused. ‘It’s just a little scuff.’”
Sam Cheever; Turtle Croakies; Electric Prose; 2020.

“All in all the show [Books That Made Us] can be summed up as, ‘Books are grouse’.”
Your Week on Free TV; Sydney Morning Herald (Australia); Nov 22, 2021.

See more usage examples of grouse in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The mark of the educated man is not in his boast that he has built his mountain of facts and stood on the top of it, but in his admission that there may be other peaks in the same range with men on the top of them, and that, though their views of the landscape may be different from his, they are nonetheless legitimate. -E.J. Pratt, poet (4 Feb 1882-1964)

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