▪ I. griddle, n.
(ˈgrɪd(ə)l)
Forms: 3 gredil(e, 4 gridele, -il, grydel, 5 gredel(le, -yl(e, grydele, -ell, -yl, gridel, griddyll, 8– griddle.
[app. a. early OF. *gredil = greil, grail (mod.F. gril) masc., or *gredille = gradilie, greille (mod.F. grille) fem.: see grill n.4
A Norman grédil, app. meaning ‘gridiron’, is quoted by Moisy from documents of the 16th c.; and an OF. grediller to scorch, crisp at a fire, survived until the 16th c. (when it was replaced by the altered form grésiller); but the relation of these to OF. greil is obscure.]
† 1. a. = gridiron 1. Obs.
| 1388 Wyclif Exod. xxvii. 4 And thou schalt make a brasun gridele [1382 gredyrne, Vulg. craticulam] in the maner of a net. c 1400 Destr. Troy 13826 A Grydell full gay, gret-full of fiche. c 1420 Liber Cocorum (1862) 25 Take lamprayes and..rost hom on gredyl. c 1450 Two Cookery-bks. 114 Haddoke..yrosted on a gridel. 1746 Exmoor Scolding Gloss. (E.D.S.) 66 Griddle, a grid-iron. |
† b. = gridiron 1 b. Obs.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 122 Seint Lorens also iðolede þet te gredil hef him upwardes mid berninde gleden. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 208/269 Some op-on grediles of Ire i-rostede weren also. Ibid. 277/198 Þe king het a-non þat Men him scholden op-on a strong gredile [v.r. gridire] do. 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 107 Summe wyth forkys of yryn ful strong On the grydyl hir turnyd up and down. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 249 b/1 He was..tormented uppon a gredyl of yron. |
2. a. A circular iron plate upon which cakes are baked; also used for cooking grills, etc. Also attrib. = girdle n.2
| 1352 Durham Acct. Rolls, Grydel pro pane. 1812 W. Tennant Anster F. vi. liv, As would a hen leap on a fire⁓hot griddle. 1859 Jephson Brittany ii. 19 She poured upon a griddle..some batter. 1875 Le Fanu Will. Die i. 12 Sometimes we..made a hot cake, and baked it on the griddle. 1897 Mrs. W. M. Ramsay Every Day Life Turkey ii. 48 Large round scones..cooked..on an iron griddle. 1962 Economist 29 Dec. 1295/3 The latest [British Railways] idea is the ‘griddle car’—..with a ‘chef-conductor’ grilling steaks and poaching eggs to order. 1963 Daily Tel. 8 Jan. 14/1 Meals cooked on the griddle in a matter of minutes may be taken back to seats in other parts of the train or eaten in the Griddle Car itself. 1968 Times 2 May 2/3 British Railways are to try out two new types of refreshment car, known respectively as a Griddle Buffet and a Lounge Buffet. |
b. Gofer- or waffle-irons. rare.
| 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxiv. (1856) 306 Like a batter⁓cake between the two disks of a hot griddle. |
3. Mining. A wire-bottomed sieve or screen.
| 1776 Pryce Min. Cornub. 233 A person near the Shaft..sifts it [Ore] in a Griddle, or iron wire sieve. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Griddle, Riddle, a miner's wire-bottomed sieve for separating the ore from the halvans. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as † griddle-sacrifice, griddle-ful; griddle-hot adj.; griddle-bread, -cake, bread or cake baked on a griddle; † griddle-iron = sense 2.
| 1841 S. C. Hall Ireland II. 25 A few slices of *griddle bread. 1881 Daily News 26 Aug. 5/7 Cold mutton fat and griddle bread. |
| 1783 Vallancey Collect. III. xii. 460 The good women are employed in making the *griddle cake. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xiii. 118 Mary stood at the stove, baking griddle-cakes. |
| Ibid. iv. 19 De first *griddle-full of cakes. |
| 1966 ‘M. Renault’ Mask of Apollo xv. 252 The streets were *griddle-hot and dusty. |
| 1769 De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. IV. 204 The *Gridle-Iron here is a thin Iron Plate..about two Feet in Diameter. |
| 1382 Wyclif Lev. ii. 7 If thin offryng shal be..for the *gredil sacrifice [Vulg. sin autem de craticula fuerit sacrificium], euen maner the tried flour shal be spreynt with oile. |
▪ II. griddle, v.1
(ˈgrɪd(ə)l)
[f. griddle n.]
1. trans. To cook on a griddle.
| c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 40 Take Venyson or Bef, & leche & gredyl it vp broun. 1887 Besant The World went i. 6 He every day fried or griddled a great piece of beef-steak. |
2. Mining. to griddle out: to screen ore with a griddle.
| 1776 Pryce Min. Cornub. i. iii. 62 Black Copper Ore..is generally griddled out and put to the pile for sale, as it rises from the Mine. |
Hence ˈgriddling vbl. n.
| 1876 T. Hardy Ethelberta (1890) 358 I'll finish the griddling. |
▪ III. griddle, v.2 slang.
(ˈgrɪd(ə)l)
intr. To sing in the streets as a beggar.
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) I. 248 Another woman..whose husband had got a month for ‘griddling in the main drag’ (singing in the high street). 1877 Besant & Rice Son of Vulc. i. xii. 267 Cardiff Jack's never got so low as to be gridling on the main drag. 1892 Daily News 8 Feb. 7/2 They were singing a hymn, or what was better known in the begging fraternity as ‘gridling’. |
Hence ˈgriddler, a street singer.
| 1859 in Slang Dict. 1888 Besant Fifty Y. Ago iv. 53 There are hymns in every collection which suit the Gridler. |