groove

The clearance grooves were made with a hollow curve. Joshua Rose, Practical Machinist, p. 94. Especially-(a) The sunken or plowed channel on the edge of a matched board, to receive the tongue. (b) The spiral rifling of a gun. (e) In the wind-chest of an organ, one of the channels or passages into which the wind is admitted by the pallets, and with which the pipes belonging to a given key are directly or indirectly connected. When a given key is struck, its pallet is opened, and the groove filled with compressed air. Whether all the pipes connected with the groove are sounded or not depends on how many stops are drawn. Also grove. 4. In anat. and zool., a natural furrow or longitudinal hollow or impression, especially one which is destined to receive one of the organs in repose: as, the antennal groove; the rostral groove in the Rhynchophora, etc.-5. Figuratively, a fixed routine; a narrow, unchanging course; a rut: as, life is apt to run in a groove; a groove of thought or of action.-Ambulacral, anterolateral, basilar, bicipital, carotid, cervical, ciliated, digastric, esophageal, hypobranchial, medullary, etc., groove. See the adjectives. groove (gröv), v. t.; pret. and pp. grooved, ppr. grooving. [= D. groeven = MHG. gruoben ODan. gruve; from the noun.] 1. To cut or make a groove or channel in; furrow.

One letter still another locks,
Each groov'd and dovetail'd like a box.

=

Swift, Answer to T. Sheridan.

2. To form as or fix in a groove; make by cutting a groove or grooves.

High-pitched imagination and vivid emotion tend to groove for themselves channels of language which are peculiar and unique.

J. C. Shairp, Aspects of Poetry, p. 128. grooving the record

The glacier moves silently, . of its being on the world itself.

...

The Century, XXVIII. 146. grooved (grövd), p. a. Having a groove or grooves; channeled; furrowed.

The aperture [is] grooved at the margin.
Pennant, Brit. Zool., The Wreath Shell.

A poly-grooved sporting carbine that formerly belonged
W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 74.

to Napoleon I.

Specifically — (u) In bot., marked with longitudinal ridges

or furrows: as, a grooved stem. (b) In entom., having a

longitudinal channel or channels: as, a grooved sternum; the beak of a weevil grooved for the reception of the antennæ.-Spiral-grooved guide. See guide1.

groove-fellow (gröv’fel ̋ō), n. One of a number of men working a mine in partnership. [North. Eng.] groover (grö'vėr), n. 1. One who or that which cuts a groove; an instrument for grooving. 2t. A miner. [North. Eng.] groove-ram (gröv'ram), n. A needle-makers' stamp for forming the groove in which the eye

of a needle is cut.

grooving (grö ́ving), n. [Verbal n. of groove, v.] A system of grooves; the act or method of making grooves, or of providing with grooves. In small-arms the hexagonal grooving is only suitable for muzzle-loaders, but breech-loading cannon are still made on the original principle.

W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 113.

groovy (grö’vi), a. [< groove-y1.] 1. Of the nature of a groove; resembling a groove. Its main purpose is to keep the surface of the ivory

slightly lubricated, so that the rag may not hang to it and wear it into rings or groovy marks. 0. Byrne, Artisan's Handbook, p. 367. Hence-2. Figuratively, having a tendency to routine; inclined to a special or narrow course of thought or effort. [Colloq.]

Men... who have not become groovy through too much poring over irrelevant learning. The Engineer, LXV. 294. grope (grop), v.; pret. and pp. groped, ppr. groping. [ ME. gropen, gropien, grapien, grasp, touch, feel, search, <AS. grāpian, grasp, handle, <grap, the grip of the fingers, grasp of the hand, <gripan (pret. grāp), seize, grasp, gripe: see gripel, the primitive, and ef. grasp, a derivative, of grope.] I. trans. 1t. To seize or touch with or as if with the hands; grasp in any way; feel; perceive.

Al that the fynger gropeth graythly he grypeth, Bote yf that that he gropeth greue the paume. Piers Plowman (C), xx. 126. I have touched and tasted the Lord, and groped Him with hands, and yet unbelief has made all unsavoury. Rogers. Come, thou 'rt familiarly acquainted there, I grope that. Middleton and Dekker, Roaring Girl, ii. 1. 2. To search out by the sense of touch alone; find or ascertain by feeling about with the hands, as in the dark or when blind.

But Strephon, cautious, never meant
The bottom of the pan to grope.

Swift.

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My chamber door was touched, as if fingers had swept the panels in groping a way along the dark gallery outside. Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, xv.

Hence-3t. To pry into; make examination or trial of; try; sound; test.

But who so couthe in other thing him grope, Than hadde he spent al his philosophie. Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 644. I rede we aske tham all on rowe, And grope tham how this game is begonne. York Plays, p. 188. How vigilant to grope men's thoughts, and to pick out somewhat whereof they might complain! Sir J. Hayward.

Call him hither, 'tis good groping such a gull. B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, iv. 1. II. intrans. 1t. To use the hands; handle. Hands they have and they shall not grope [authorized version, "They have hands, but they handle not "]. Wyclif, Ps. cxv. 7. 2. To feel about with the hands in search of something, as in the dark or as a blind person; feel one's way in darkness or obscurity; hence, to attempt anything blindly or tentatively. Go we groppe wher we graued hir, If we fynde ouzte that faire one in fere nowe. York Plays, p. 489. We grope for the wall like the blind. Isa. lix. 10. While through the dark the shuddering sea Gropes for the ships. Lowell, Fancy's Casuistry. We grope in the gray dusk, carrying each our poor little taper of selfish and painful wisdom. H. James, Jr., Pass. Pilgrim, p. 266.

Specifically-3t. To feel for fish under the bank of a brook. I. Walton. See gropple. One who gropes; one who groper (grō ́pėr), n. feels his way, as in the dark, or searches tentatively.

A groper after novelties in any wise do flye. Drant, tr. of Horace's Ep. to Lollius. gropingly (grō'ping-li), adv. By groping. He descended the one step, and advanced slowly and gropingly toward the grass-plat. Where was his daring Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xxxvii. gropple (grop'l), v. i.; pret. and pp. groppled, ppr. groppling. [Freq. of grope.] To grope. [Prov. Eng.]

stride now?

The boys.

had gone off to the brook to gropple in the bank for cray-fish.

T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, xxx.

groroilite (grō-roi'lit), n. [< Groroi (see def.) +Gr. ios, stone: see -lite.] A variety of earthy manganese or wad found near Groroi in the department of Mayenne, France, and occurring in roundish masses, of a brownishblack color with reddish-brown streaks. gros1t. Preterit of grisel. gros2 (gro), a. and n. [F., thick, strong: see gross.] I. a. Strong or decided in tint: applied to pigment.-Gros bleu, dark blue; especially, In English, the darkest blue used in porcelain-decoration,

as at Sèvres and elsewhere.

II. n. 1. A textile fabric stronger or heavier than others of the same material.-2. [F., < ML. grossus, a coin (defined 'groat,' but a different word), lit. 'great' or 'thick': see gross. Cf. groschen.] A coin of relatively large size: applied to (a) Silver coins of various kinds current in France in the thirteenth and follow

Gros Tournois of Louis IX., British Museum. (Size of the original.) ing centuries, as the gros tournois, gros blanc, gros d'argent, gros de roi. The gros tournois of Louis IX., here illustrated, weighs 63 grains. (b) A silver coin struck by Edward III. of England and by Edward the Black Prince for their French dominions.-Gros d'Afrique, a fine and heavy silk having a glacé or satin surface.-Gros de Berlin, a fabric of cotton mixed with alpaca wool. It is made both plain and figured.-Gros de Messine, gros de Naples, a stout silk fabric made of organzine.-Gros des Indes, a silken textile fabric having a stripe woven transversely across the web.-Gros de Suez, a thin ribbed silk used for linings. Gros de Tours, a heavy silk, usually black, used for mourning-dresses.- Gros grain. See grosgrain.

grosbeak (grōs'bēk), n. [< gross, large, thick, + beak1, after F. grosbec, grosbeak.] A bird having a notably large, heavy, or turgid bill: usually a general and indefinite name of birds of

gross the family Fringillida: in the plural loosely synonymous with the nominal subfamily Coccothraustina. Among familiar examples may be noted the hawfinch or hawthorn-grosbeak, Coccothraustes vulgaris, and the greenfinch or green grosbeak, Ligurinus chloris, both of Europe. (See cut under hawfinch.) The pine. grosbeak, Pinicola enucleator, is common to both Europe and America. Peculiar to the latter country are the evening grosbeak, Hesperophona vespertina; the blue grosbeak, Guiraca cæruled; the rose-breasted grosbeak, Zamelodia (or Habia) ludoviciana; the black-headed grosbeak, Z. (or H.) melanocephala; and the cardinal or scarlet grosbeak, or cardinal-bird, Cardinalis virginianus. (See cut under Cardinalis.) A few large-billed conirostral birds not of the family Fringillida receive the same name, as the grenadier, an African weaver-bird, and some of the thick-billed American tanagers, indicating a former very extensive use of grosbeak as an English book-name of birds of the Linnean genus Loxia in a wide sense. Less frequently written grossbeak.

He thought our cardinal grosbeak, which he called the Virginia nightingale, as fine a whistler as the nightingale herself. The Century, XXIX. 778. groschen (grō'shen), n. [G., MHG. grosche, earlier and prop, grosse, also gros, <ML. grossus,

DEIKEN

ROSCOE 1866

a coin so called: see gross, gros. Cf. grosset.] A small silver coin of various kinds current in Germany from the fourteenth gentury to the pres- Groschen of Hanover, 1866, British Muent time. specimens are distinguished as silbergroschen, kaisergro

Some

Obverse.

Reverse.

seum. (Size of the original.)

schen, mariengroschen. The modern groschen is worth about 2 cents.

groser (grō'sèr), n. [North. E. and Sc., in pl. grosers, Sc. also grozer, grozzer, grosert, grossart, groset, grozet, also grozle, grozzle, in some places grizzle, a gooseberry; various alterations of ME. *grosel (not recorded, but cf. ME. grosiler, below), < OF. groselle, groiselle, groisele, a gooseberry, F. groseille, a currant, OF. groselier, groiselier (> ME. grosiler), a gooseberrybush (ef. Ir. groisaid, Gael. groiseid, a goosebush, F. groscillier, a currant-bush, gooseberryberry, Ir. grosair, a gooseberry-bush, W. gruys, a wild gooseberry, appar. of ŎF. origin). The OF. groisele is in form a dim., perhaps MHG. krūs, G. kraus, curling, crisped (= D. kroes Sw. krus (in comp.), crisp, curled, frizzled: see curl, cruller), > G. krausbeere, kräuselbeere, a cranberry, rough gooseberry, = D. kruisbezie, as if 'crossberry' (for *kroesbezie), bär, a gooseberry; in reference to the short, crisp, curling hairs upon the rougher kinds of the fruit. The ML. grossula, a gooseberry, grossularia, a gooseberry-bush, are based on the OF. forms. It has been supposed that E. gooseberry is, in its first syllable, also of OF. origin: see gooseberry.] A gooseberry.

=

= Sw. krus

for prophaneing the Sabbath, by gathering grosers in tyme George Gordoune being cited before the session of Rynie of sermon,.. appealed to the Presbyterie. Presbytery Book of Strathbogie (1636), p. 9. (Jamieson.) grosert, n. Same as groser. grosgrain (grō'grān), n. [F., gros, thick, + grain, grain: see gross and grain1, and ef. grogram.] A stout corded silk stuff, not very lustrous, and one of the most durable of silk fabrics. gross (gros), a. and n. [< OF. gros, m., grosse, f., Pr. gros Sp. grueso = Pg. grosso It. grosso, great, big, thick, gross, LL. grossus, thick (of diameter, depth, etc.), ML. great, big, a different word from L. crassus, solid, thick, dense, fat, gross, etc., of which it has been supposed to be a corruption. Hence ult. grocer, engross, etc., gros, groschen, etc.] I. a. 1. Great; large; big; bulky.

=

Child Noryce he came off the tree, His mother to take off the horse: "Och alace, alace," says Child Noryce, "My mother was ne'er so gross." Child Noryce (Child's Ballads, II. 43). The crows and choughs that wing the midway air Show scarce so gross as beetles. Shak., Lear, iv. 6.

2. Unusually large or plump, as from coarse growth or fatness: applied to plants or animals, and implying in men excessive or repulsive fatness.

One of them is well known, my lord: a gross fat man. Shak,, 1 Hen. IV., ii. 4. Strong-growing pears . . . are grafted on quince stock in order to restrict their tendency to form gross shoots. Encyc. Brit., XII. 213. Burly is a man of a great presence; he commands a larger atmosphere, gives the impression of a grosser mass of character than most inen.

R. L. Stevenson, Talk and Talkers, i.

gross

3. Coarse in texture or form; coarse in taste, or as related to any of the senses; not fine or delicate.

Feede thi howce with groce, & not with delycate meete.

Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 29. Their diet is extremely gross.

E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, II. 347. 4. Coarse in a moral sense; vulgar; indelicate; broad: applied to either persons or things.

It [Platonic love] is a Love abstracted from all corporeal gross Impressions and sensual Appetite. Howell, Letters, I. vi. 15.

Belial came last, than whom a spirit more lewd Fell not from heaven, or more gross to love Vice for itself. Milton, P. L., i. 491. She certainly has talents, but her manner is gross. Sheridan, School for Scandal, i. 1. The terms which are delicate in one age become gross in the next. Macaulay, Leigh Hunt. 5. Remarkably glaring or reprehensible; enormous; shameful; flagrant: as, a gross mistake; gross injustice.

Neither speak I of gross sinners, not grafted into Christ; but even to those that applaud themselves in their holy portion, and look to be saved. Rev. T. Adams, Works, III. 89.

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I hear unlettered men talk of a people they do not know, and condemn them in the gross they know not why. Goldsmith, Abuse of Our Enemies.

Villein in gross. See villein.

Grotian

the subfamily Pimplinæ.-2. A genus of arctiid moths. Moore, 1865.

Palladian walls, Venetian doors,
Grotesco roofs, and stucco floors.

Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. vi. 192.

II. n. A grotesque. Nares.

Let me heare

Halli

with the people. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., i. 3. The injustice of the verdict was so gross that the very courtiers cried shame. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vii. 6. Thick; dense; not attenuated; not refined or pure: as, a gross medium; gross air; gross

elements.

On that bright Sunne of Glorie fixe thine eyes, Clear'd from grosse mists of fraile infirmities.

She is back't

By th' Amafrose and cloudy Cataract,

That (gathering up gross humours inwardly
In th' optique sinew) quite puts out the eye.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Furies.

The eye of Heaven

Durst not behold your speed, but hid itself
Behind the grossest clouds.

Fletcher (und another ?), Prophetess, ii. 3. 7. Not acute or sensitive in perception, apprehension, or feeling; stupid; dull.

Lay open to my earthy gross conceit. The folded meaning of your words' deceit. Shak., C. of E., iii. 2. Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear. Milton, Comus, 1. 458. The Turks... being a people generally of the grossest apprehension, and knowing few other pleasures but such sensualities as are equally common both to Men and Beasts. Maundrell, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 41.

8. Whole; entire; total; specifically, without deduction, as for charges or waste material; without allowance of tare and tret: opposed to net: as, the gross sum or amount; gross profits, income, or weight.

It were better to giue flue hundred pound a tun for those grosse Commodities in Denmarke then send for them hither. Capt. John Smith, Works, I. 203. 9. General; not entering into detail. [Rare.] Anatomical results have a reputation for superior credibility, and it is a generally accepted idea that within the limits of gross anatomy this reputation is well grounded; but when we glance at the work in minute anatomy or histology, it seems as though a long time must elapse before this latter would be thus honored.

Amer. Jour. Psychol., I. 209. Gross anatomy, negligence, etc. See the nouns. = Syn. 3-5. Rude, unrefined, animal, low, broad, unseemly, glaring, outrageous.

II. n. 1. The main body; the chief part; the bulk; the mass: now chiefly or only in the phrase in gross or in the gross (which see, below).

Remember, son, You are a general; other wars require you; For see, the Saxon gross begins to move. Dryden, King Arthur. Such are the thoughts of the executive part of an army, and indeed of the gross of mankind in general. Steele, Spectator, No. 152. 2. A unit of tale, consisting of twelve dozen, or 144. It never has the plural form: as, five gross or ten gross.-3. Thick soft food, such as porridge, etc. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] - Advowson in gross. See advowson, 2.-A great gross, twelve gross, or 144 dozen.-A small gross, 120.-Common in gross. See common, n., 4.-In gross, in the gross, in bulk; in the lump; wholesale: generally used in feudal and common law to indicate that a right referred to was annexed to the person of an owner, as distinguished from one which was appendant to specific real property, so as to belong always to the owner of that property.

No more than it were either possible or to purpose to seek in gross the forms of those sounds which make words. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 163. There are great Preparations for the Funeral, and there is a Design to buy all the Cloth for Mourning white, and then put it to the Dyers in gross, which is like to save the Crown a good deal of Money. Howell, Letters, I. iv. 7.

He means to gull all but himself; when, truly,
None is so grossly gull'd as he.

Beau. and Fl., Laws of Candy, v. 1.

Nor is the people's judgment always true: The most may err as grossly as the few. Dryden, Abs. and Achit., i. 782. An offender who has grossly violated the laws. Junius, Letters, xlv. The sculpture, painting, and literature of mediæval Europe show how grossly anthropomorphic was the conception of deity which prevailed down to recent centuĤ. Spencer, Prin. of Sociol., § 203.

ries.

grossness (grōs'nes), n. The state or quality of being gross, in any sense; especially, indelicacy; rudeness; vulgarity.

Stars fall but in the grossness of our sight. Ford, Broken Heart, ii. 3. The element immediately next the earth in grosness is water. Sir K. Digby, Nature of Bodies, xxvii. For envied wit, like Sol eclipsed, makes known The opposing body's grossness, not its own. Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 469. Vice itself lost half its evil by losing all its grossness. Burke, Rev. in France. grossulaceous (gros-u-la'shius), a. [< NL. grossulaceus, ‹ grossula (< OF. groselle), etc., a gooseberry: see groser.] Resembling or pertaining to the gooseberry and currant. grossular (gros'u-lär), a. and n. [< ML. and NL. grossula, a gooseberry: see groser.] I. a. Pertaining to or resembling a gooseberry: as, grossular garnet.

II. n. A variety of garnet found in Siberia: so named from its green color, resembling that of the gooseberry. It belongs to the lime-alumina variety of the species, and the name is often extended to include garnets of other colors having a like composition. See garnet. Also called grossularite. Grossularieæ (grosu-la-rī′ē-6), n. pl. [NL., Grossularia ( grossula, a gooseberry) + -eœ.] A botanical tribe of the natural order Saxifragaceæ, consisting of the single genus Ribes, comprehending the gooseberry and currant: now known as Ribesiea. See gooseberry, Ribes. grossularite (grosʻu-lär-it), n. [< grossular + -ite2.] Same as grossular. grot1 (grot), n. [= D. grot, < F. grotte, a grot, a cave: see grotto.] A grotto. [Now chiefly poetical.]

Winding with the wall along the outward North-alley of the Chancell, at the far end thereof is a Grot hewn out of the rock. Sundys, Travailes, p. 131. Umbrageous grots and caves Of cool recess, o'er which the mantling vine Lays forth her purple grape. Milton, P. L., iv. 257. The babbling runnel crispeth, The hollow grot replieth. Tennyson, Claribel. grot2t, grotet, n. Middle English forms of groat. Chaucer. Grotea (gro'tē-ä), n. [NL. (Cresson, 1864), after A. R. Grote, an American entomologist.] 1. An American genus of ichneumon-flies, of

worke of painters" (Florio), found in ancient crypts and grottos), < It. grotta, a grotto: see grotto, grot1, and -esque.] I. a. 1t. Consisting of or resembling artificial grotto-work.

appearance.

A sort of grotesque carv'd work, cut in an inclined plain from the outside of the wall to the door, which has a grand Pococke, Description of the East, I. 194. Hence-2. Of the fantastic character of such grotto-work and of its decoration; wildly formed; of irregular forms and proportions; ludicrous; antic (which see), as the arabesques of the Renaissance, in which figures human to the waist terminate in scrolls, leafage, and the like, and are associated with animal forms and impossible flowers; hence, in general, whimsical, extravagant, or odd; absurdly bold: often, or more commonly, used in a sense of condemnation or depreciation.

The champain head

Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild, Access denied. Milton, P. L., iv. 136. The numerous fictions, generally original, often wild and grotesque, but always singularly graceful and happy, which are found in his essays, fully entitle him to the rank of a great poet. Macaulay, Addison.

Puck and Ariel, and the grotesque train
That do inhabit slumber.

T. B. Aldrich, Invocation to Sleep. =Syn. 2. Fantastic, etc. (see fanciful); whimsical, wild, strange.

II. n. 1. That which is grotesque, as an uncouth or ill-proportioned figure, rude and savage scenery, an inartistic, clownish, or absurd fancy, a clumsy satire, or the like.

But in the grand grotesque of farce, Munden stands out as single and unaccompanied as Hogarth. Lamb, Acting of Munden. From time to time, as you wander, you will meet a lonely, stunted tree, which is sure to be a charming piece of the individual grotesque. H. James, Jr., Portraits of Places, p. 348. Specifically-2. In art, a capricious figure, work, or ornament; especially, a variety of arabesque which as a whole has no type in nature, being a combination of the parts of animals and plants, and of other incongruous elements.

There are no grotesques in nature.

Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, xv. The foliage and grotesq about some of the compartments are admirable. Evelyn, Diary, Jan. 18, 1645. Wanton grotesques thrusting themselves forth from every pinnacle and gargoyle. Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 101.

3. In printing, any uncouth form of type; specifically, in Great Britain, the black square-cut display-type called gothic in the United States. grotesquely (gro-tesk'li), adv. In a grotesque manner; very absurdly.

Sometimes this juggle which is practised with the word theology becomes grotesquely apparent. J. R. Seeley, Nat. Religion, p. 60. grotesqueness (grō-tesk'nes), n. The character of being grotesque.

Seldom went such grotesqueness with such woe. Browning, Childe Roland. Fancies, however extravagant in grotesqueness of shadow Ruskin. or shape.

grotesquery (gro-tes'kér-i), n.; pl. grotesqueries (-iz). [< grotesque +-ery.] An embodiment or expression of grotesqueness; grotesque conduct or speech; a grotesque action.

His [Prof. Wilson's] range of power is extraordinary: from the nicest subtleties of feminine tenderness, he passes at will to the wildest animal riot and the most daring grotesqueries of humour. Chambers's Encyc. Think of... the grotesqueries of Caliban and Trinculo. S. Lanier, The English Novel, p. 285. Grotian (grō'shi-an), a. [< Grotius (a Latinized form of D. Groot: see def.) + -an.] Of or pertaining to Grotius (Hugo de Groot), a distinguished Dutch scholar and statesman (15831645), and the founder of the modern science of international law. -Grotian theory, the doctrine,

Grotian

first fully propounded by Grotius, that the controlling principles of human law, and particularly of international law, should be sought in the nature of man and in the community of sentiment among the wise and learned of all nations and ages, and that justice is of perpetual obligation, and essential to human well-being. grottat (grot'ä), n. [It.: see grotto.] A grotto. Let it be turned to a grotta, or place of shade. → Bacon, Building. grotto (grot'ō), n.; pl. grottoes or grottos (-ōz). [A mistaken form (as if It. masc.) of earlier grotta (q. v.) (also grot1, q. v., = : D. grot, < F.) = G. Dan. grotte=Sw. grotta F. grotte, <It. grotta, f., Sp. Pg. gruta = Pr. crota, earlier cropta = OF. crote, croute, a grotto, a cave, ‹ ML. grupta, crupta, corrupt forms of L. crypta, an underground passage or chamber, a vault, cave, grotto, crypt: see crypt, which is thus a doublet of grotto.] A subterranean cavity; a natural cavern, or an ornamented excavation or construction more or less remotely resembling a natural cave, made for shade or recreation. In the former case, the name is most commonly used for a cavern of limited size remarkable in some respect, as the Grotto del Cane near Naples for its mephitic vapors, the grotto of Antiparos for its beautiful stalactitic and stalagmitic formations, or the grottoes of Capri for their picturesqueness. Poetically the name is often applied to any deeply shaded inclosed space, as an umbrageous opening in a dense wood, an overarched depression in the ground, etc.

On the side of the hills over Salheia there are some grottos cut in the rock; one of them is large, consisting of several rooms. Pococke, Description of the East, II. i. 126. Alas! to grottoes and to groves we run, To ease and silence, every Muse's son. Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. ii. 110. The arrange

You [an oyster], in your grotto-work enclos'd, Complain of being thus expos'd.

And liegemen to the Dane. Shak., Hamlet, i. 1. Edward the Black Prince, Who on the French ground play'd a tragedy, Making defeat on the full power of France. Shak., Hen. V., i. 2. There, lost behind a rising ground, the wood Seems sunk. Cowper, Task, i. 305.

ground

That fable had ground of Historie, howsoeuer by fictions obscured. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 341.

O that their ground of Hate should be my Love! J. Beaumont, Psyche, i. 117. 13+. pl. Remnants; ends; scraps; small pieces.

A fly made with a peacock's feather is excellent in a bright day you must be sure you want not in your maga zine-bag the peacock's feather, and grounds of such wool and crewel as will make the grasshopper. I. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 106. 14. pl. [Formerly also grouns, growns.] Sediment at the bottom of liquors; dregs; lees: as, coffee-grounds; the grounds of strong beer.

7. Land appropriated to some special use (with out reference to ownership), as the playing of games: as, base-ball grounds; cricket-grounds; hunting-grounds; hence, also, fishing-grounds. -8t. The pit of a theater. It was originally without benches, and on a level with the stage.

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Cowper, Poet, Oyster, and Sensitive Plant. grouan (grouʼan), n. Same as growan. grought+, n. A bad form of growth. Chapman. groult, v. An obsolete spelling of growl. ground (ground), n. and a. [< ME. ground, grund, AS. grund, bottom, foundation, the ground, earth, soil, = OS. grund = OFries. grund, grond D. grond MLG. grunt OHG. MHG. grunt, G. grund, bottom, foundation, the ground, soil, etc., Icel. grunnr, m., the bottom (of sea or water), cf. grunn, n., a shallow, a shoal, grunnr, a., = Sw. Dan. grund, a., shallow, shoal (Sw. Dan. grund, the ground, is in this sense appar. of G. origin, and Icel. grund, f., a green field, grassy plain, appears to be a different word), = Goth. "grundus, bottom, base (in comp. grundu-waddjus, a foundation, lit. 'ground-wall,' and deriv. afgrunditha, bottomless deep; cf. G. abgrund = Dan. Sw. afgrund). Cf. Ir. grunnt, Gael. grunnd, bottom, base, ground, prob. from the AS. Root uncertain; the supposition that ground, like LG. and G. grand, gravel, is from grind (AS. pp. grunden), with the orig. sense of that which is ground' into small particles, i. e., sand, gravel, grit, dust, etc., does not suit the earliest sense of ground, which is 'bottom, foundation.'] I. n. 1. The bottom; the lowest part. [Obsolete or provincial.]

Hi caste hire in a wel [very] deope water, hire heued toward the grounde. St. Margaret, 1. 242. Helle is with ute met [mete, measure], and deop with ute grunde. Old Eng. Homilies (ed. Morris), p. 249. A lake that hathe no grounde.

Mandeville, Travels, p. 189. 2. Foundation; base; a surface serving as a support, as a floor or pavement.

Thilke Zarabazar cam, and sette the grounds of the temple of God. Wyclif, 1 Esd. [Ezra] v. 16 (Oxf.). Thrice rung the bell, the slipper knock'd the ground, And the press'd watch return'd a silver sound. Pope, R. of the L., i. 17. 3. The solid part of the earth's surface; the crust of the globe; the firm land.

God that the ground wroght,
And ilke a planet hase put in a plaine course,
That turnys as there tyme comys, trist ye non other.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 422.

I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground. Jer. xxvii. 5. Shak., M. of V., ii. 2. 4. The disintegrated portion of the earth's crust, lying upon its surface; soil; earth.

I will run as far as God has any ground.

Water myxt with grounde, the thridde avis is,
Upshette aboute, and trampled with catell
Maade playne and dried after.

Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 36.
And here the maiden, sleeping sound,
On the dank and dirty ground.
Shak., M. N. D., ii. 3.

And like bright metal on a sullen ground, My reformation, glittering o'er my fault. Shuk., 1 Hen. IV., i. 2. Specifically-(a) In painting, a basis for a picture, whether it be of plaster, as in distemper or fresco, or only a general tone of color spread over the surface of a canvas and intended to show through the overlaid color if transparent, or to relieve it if opaque.

If folly grow romantic, I must paint it. Come then, the colours and the ground prepare. Pope, Moral Essays, ii. 17. (b) In sculp., the flat surface from which the figures project: said of a work in relief. (c) In etching, a coating of var nish applied to a plate as a basis to work upon; in mezzotint, a roughening of the copper with a cradle for a like purpose. See etching and etching-ground. (d) In decorative art, the original surface, uncolored, or colored with a flat tint only as a preparation for further ornament. Thus, a background may consist of slight scrollwork, fretwork, or the like, printed upon the ground, as in the case of decorative designs of considerable richness, figure-work, flower-work, and the like. (e) In ceram., the colored surface of the body of a piece upon which painting in enamels or gilding is to be applied. See ground laying and bossing, 1. (f) In lace, that part of lace which is not the pattern, of two kinds, one called the reseau or net, and the other the grillage. See these words and lace. (g) In music: (1) A cantus firmus, or melody proposed for contrapuntal treatment. For on that ground I'll make a holy descant. Shuk., Rich. III., iii. 7. Especially (2) A ground bass (which see, under bass3). Welcome is all our song, is all our sound, The treble part, the tenor, and the ground.

B. Jonson, Love's Welcome at Welbeck. (h) In textile manuf., the principal color, to which others are considered as ornamental; that part of manufactured articles, as tapestry, carpeting, etc., of a uniform color,

on which the figures are, as it were, drawn or projected. (i) One of the pieces nailed to lathing to form a guide for the surface of plastering, and to serve as a basis for stucco-work.

The architraves, skirtings, and surbase mouldings are fixed to pieces of wood called grounds. Encyc. Brit., IV. 492. (1) The first coat of hard varnish in japanning. 11. That which logically necessitates a given judgment or conclusion; a sufficient reason; in general, a reason or datum of reasoning; logical or rational foundation.

She told hym all the grounde of the mater In euery thing, and how it was be fall. Generydes (E. E. T. S.), l. 1086. I'll answer for 't there are no grounds for that report. Sheridan, School for Scandal, i. 1. That knowledge by which the mind is necessitated to affirm or posit something else is called the logical reason, ground, or antecedent; that something else which the mind is necessitated to affirm or posit is called the logical consequent. Sir W. Hamilton, Lectures on Logic, v.

12. Source, origin, or cause. Necessity hath taught them Physicke, rather had from experience then the grounds of Art. Sandys, Travailes, p. 56.

How much another thing it is to hear him speak, that hath cleared himself from froth and growns, and who tempting spirit of that nature to abuse him. Marcell, Works, II. 131. 15. In elect., a connection with the earth, so that the electricity passes off into it.

The grounds were caused by little kernels or spots of carbonized insulation. Elect. Rev. (Amer.), XIII. 10. Absorbent grounds, barren ground, blue ground. See the adjectives.-Bar of ground. See bar1.-Bassing-ground, fishing-ground for bass; a place where bass may be caught.-Dame Joan ground, a filling or ground used in point-lace, consisting of threads arranged in couples, and inclosing hexagon openings arranged like a honeycomb, two parallel threads coming between each two hexagons.-Dark and bloody ground, a name often used for the State of Kentucky, on account of its having early been the scene of frequent Indian wars. It is said to be the translation of the name Kentucky, given to the region by the aborigines because opposing tribes often fought there on their resorting to it as a common huntingground.-Dead ground. Same as dead angle (which see, under angle3).-Delicate ground, a matter with regard to which great delicacy or circumspection, especially in conversation, is necessary.- Devonia ground, in lacemaking, a kind of ground or filling composed of irregular brides, each of which, instead of a single thread, consists of at least two laid side by side, and held together by fine cross-threads.-Firm ground, secure footing; firm foundation.- Happy hunting-grounds. See huntingground.-Low grounds, bottom-lands. [Virginia, U. S.] -On even ground. See even1.- On ground, ashore; aground.

[The ship] had been preserved in divers most desperate dangers, having been on ground upon the sands by Flushing, and again by Dover, and in great tempests. Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 289. On the ground. (a) On the earth. (b) At the spot or place mentioned; at hand. - Slippery ground, insecure footing; an uncertain or deceptive foundation.

Honest Merit stands on slipp'ry ground,
Where covert artifice and guile abound.
Cowper, Charity, 1. 284.

To be on one's own ground, to deal with a matter with which one is familiar.-To bite the ground. See to bite the dust, under bite. To break ground. See break.-To bring to ground, set on ground, to discomfit; floor; gravel.

Hit greuys me full gretly, & to ground brynges, Whethur Elan be so honerable, or of so hegh prise, ffor hir, oure Dukes to dethe, & oure derfe kynges. Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 9342.

The Pharisees and Sadducees had no further end but to set Him on ground, and so to expose Him to the contempt of the people. Bp. Andrews, Sermons, V. 127. To fall or go to the ground, to come to naught: as, the project fell to the ground.

Alnaschar, who kicked down the china, . . . had cast his eye on the Vizier's daughter, and his hopes of her went to the ground with the shattered bowls and tea-cups. Thackeray, Pendennis, lxxii. To gain ground. (a) To advance; make progress or head; gain an advantage; obtain a degree of success. (b) To gain credit; prevail; become more general or extensive: as, the opinion gains ground. To gather ground. Same as to gain ground. [Rare.]

As evening-mist Risen from a river o'er the marish glides, And gathers ground fast at the labourer's heel Homeward returning. Milton, P. L., xii. 631. To get ground. Same as to gain ground. [Rare.]

There were divers bloody Battles 'twixt the Remnant of Christians and the Moors, for 700 Years together; and the Spaniards, getting Ground more and more, drave them at last to Granada. Howell, Letters, I. iii. 32. To give ground, to recede; retire under the pressure of an advancing enemy; yield advantage.

Having made the Imperial army give Ground the Day before. Howell, Letters, I. vi. 6.

To lose ground. (a) To retire; retreat; be driven from the position taken. (b) To lose advantage. (c) To lose credit; decline; become less in force or extent.-To stand one's ground, to stand firm; not to recede or yield.

II. a. Pertaining to the ground. (a) Belonging to the ground or base; hence, basic; fundamental: as, the ground form of a word; ground facts or principles. According to Mr. Bertin's theory, this people was the "ground race" of western Asia. Science, XII. 308.

(b) Pertaining to the soil: as, ground air. (c) Situated on or nearest to the surface of the earth: as, the ground floor. Ground air. See air1.- Ground bass. See bass3.— Ground floor. See floor.-Ground form, in gram., a name sometimes given to the basis of a word to which the inflectional parts are added in declension or conjugation; the stem or base of a theme (a Germanism).-Ground tier. (a) The lower or pit range of boxes in a theater. (b) Naut.: