Gripe-fist, subs. (common).—A miser; a grasping broker. For synonyms, see Hunks. Also Gripe-penny. 1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Grist, subs. (American).—A large number or quantity. [Swift uses grist = a supply; a provision.] 1848. Cooper, Oak Openings. There’s an unaccountable grist of bees, I can tell you. a. 1852. Traits of American Humour, i., 305. I ... got pretty considerable soaked by a grist of rain. To bring grist to the mill, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To bring profitable business; to be a source of profit. 1719. Poor Robin’s Almanack, May. Lawyers pleading do refrain A while, and then fall to ’t again; Strife brings grist unto their mill. 1770. Foote, Lame Lover, i. Well, let them go on, it brings grist to our mill. 1804. Horsley, Speech, 23 July. A sly old pope created twenty new saints, to bring grist to the mill of the London clergy. 1817. Scott, Ivanhoe, c. 16. Some three or four dried pease—a miserable grist for such a mill. 1838. Dickens, Nich. Nickleby, ch. xxxiv., p. 268. Meantime the fools bring grist to my mill. Gristle, subs. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick. Grit, subs. (originally American: now colloquial).—1. Character; pluck; spirit; sand (q.v.). Also clear grit. No grit = lacking in stamina; wanting in courage. 1825. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, bk. II., ch. xiv. A chap who was clear grit for a tussle, any time. 1848. Burton, Waggeries, etc., p. 13. The old folks ... began to think that she warn’t the clear grit. 1849. C. Kingsley, Alton Locke, ch. vi. A real lady—l’air noble—the rael genuine grit, as Sam Slick says. 1852. H. B. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ch. vii. You’re a right brave old girl. I like grit, wherever I see it. 1860. Thackeray, Philip, ch. xxxi. If you were a chip of the old block you would be just what he called the grit. 1889. Referee, 6 Jan. They never did think there was any real grit about him. 1890. Scribner, Feb., 242. ‘Looks like he got grit, don’t it?’ Lige muttered. 1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 249. I am as full of grit and work as ever, and just tower above our troubles. 2. (Canadian political).—A member of the Liberal party. Gritty, adj. (American).—Plucky; courageous; resolute; full of character. 1847. Robb, Squatter Life, p. 106. There never was a grittyer crowd congregated on that stream. Grizzle, verb. (colloquial).—To fret. Also to grizzle one’s guts. 1872. Miss Braddon, To the Bitter End, ch. xvi. ‘If the locket’s lost, it’s lost,’ she said philosophically; ‘and there’s no use in grizzling about it.’ Grizzle-guts (or Grizzle- or Glum-pot). subs. (common).—A melancholy or ill-tempered person; a sulkington (q.v.). Groaner, subs. (old).—A thief plying his trade at funerals or religious gatherings. 1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London, s.v.