Slang and its analogues past and present, volume 3 [of 7] : $b A dictionary, historical and comparative, of the heterodox speech of all classes of society for more than three hundred years. With synonyms in English, French, German, Italian, etc.Henley, William Ernest
History
Slang and its analogues past and present, volume 3 [of 7] : $b A dictionary, historical and comparative, of the heterodox speech of all classes of society for more than three hundred years. With synonyms in English, French, German, Italian, etc.
Henley, William Ernest
English language -- Slang -- Dictionaries; Slang -- Dictionaries
To grin in a Glass Case. verb. phr. (old).—To be shown as an anatomical
preparation. [The bodies and skeletons of criminals were once preserved
in glass cases at Surgeon’s Hall.—Grose.]
To flash the Upright Grin, verb. phr. (venery).—To expose the person
(of women).
Grinagog, the Cat’s Uncle, subs. phr. (old).—A grinning
simpleton.—Grose.
Grincums, subs. (old).—Syphilis. For synonyms, see Ladies’ Fever.
1608. Middleton, Family of Love, B. 1. I had a receipt for the
grincomes in his own hand.
1635. Jones, Adrasta or the Woman’s Spleen, c. 2. You must know,
sir, in a nobleman ’tis abusive; no, in him the serpigo, in a
knight the grincomes, in a gentleman the Neapolitan scabb, and in a
serving man or artificer the plaine pox.
1637. Massinger, Guardian, iv. The comfort is, I am now secure from
the grincomes, I can lose nothing that way.
Grind, subs. (common).—1. A walk; a constitutional: e.g., ‘to take a
grind’ or (University) ‘to go on the Grandchester (or Gog Magog Hills)
grind.’
2. (common).—Daily routine; hard or distasteful work.
1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, pt. III., ch. xi. To a University
man, a grind did not possess any reading signification, but a
riding one. In fact, it was a steeple-chase, slightly varying in
its details according to the college that patronised the pastime.
1870. London Figaro, 28 July. The world is a wearisome grind, love,
Nor shirk we our turn at the wheel.
1880. A. Trollope, The Duke’s Children, ch. xxv. ‘Isn’t it a great
grind, sir?’ asked Silverbridge. ‘A very great grind, as you call
it. And there may be the grind and not the success. But——’
1880. One and All, 27 Mar., p. 207. Soul-weary of life’s horrid
grind, I long to come to thee.
3. (schools’).—Study; reading up for an examination; also a plodding
student, i.e., a grinder.
1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School Days, pt. II., ch. v. ‘Come along,
boys,’ cries East, always ready to leave the grind, as he called
it.
1887. Chambers’ Jour., 14 May, p. 310. Smalls made just such a goal
as was required, and the grind it entailed was frequently of no
slight profit to him.
4. (medical students’).—A demonstration: as (1) a ‘public grind’ given
to a class and free to all; and (2) a ‘private grind’ for which a
student pays an individual teacher. In America, a quiz (q.v.).
5. (Oxford University).—Athletic sports. Also, a training run.
1872. Chambers’ Jour., April. Joe Rullock, the mighty gymnasiarch,
the hero of a hundred grinds, the unwearied haunter of the
palæstra, could never give the lie to his whole past life, and deny
his own gymnastics.
6. (venery).—An act of sexual intercourse: e.g., To do a grind. [Mill
and grindstone (venery) = the female pudendum.] For synonyms, see
Greens and Ride.
1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Macinio, the grinding of grist.
Also taken for carnal copulation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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