▪ I. grovelling, groveling, vbl. n.
(ˈgrɒv(ə)lɪŋ)
[f. grovel v. + -ing1.]
The action of the verb grovel; lit. and fig.
| 1611 Florio, Trabocco, a downe-fall, a groueling on the ground. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 153 Mahomet..perswaded them..that his groveling and foming (a disease much troubling him) was caused by [etc.]. 1726 Broome To Mr. Pope, on his Wks. 62 Sink, without groveling; without rashness, rise. 1874 L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) II. iv. 132 This lavish splendour..implies no grovelling before the ordinary British duke. |
▪ II. grovelling, groveling, a. (ppl. a.)
(ˈgrɒv(ə)lɪŋ)
[Orig. an attributive use of grovelling adv.; subsequently apprehended as pr. pple. of grovel v.]
1. Having the face or belly towards or on the ground; prone. (Said esp. of the lower animals.)
| 1538 H. Medwall Interlude Nature (1896) 41/90 All other bestys as thyngys vnworthy To behold therth wyth grouelyng countenaunce. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Abijcio, Nature hath made beastes bent or grouelynge with their heades downewarde to their foode. 1634 Milton Comus 53 Circe..Whose charmed Cup Whoever tasted, lost his upright shape, And downward fell into a groveling Swine. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) II. 18 Nature gave Man an erect Figure, to raise him above the groveling Condition of..the Beasts. 1738 Wesley Psalms cxlvii. x, While groveling Beasts attempt his Praise In hoarser Harmony. 1803 Leyden Scenes Infancy iii. 331 The grovelling monster long Blew the shrill hiss. |
b. Applied to a low-growing plant.
| 1750 G. Hughes Barbadoes Pref. 6 A pompous stile would ill fit..the description of a grovelling plant. Ibid. 127 It is but a grovelling, prickly, uncouth tree. |
2. transf. and fig. Of persons, qualities, conditions, etc.: Abject, base, low, mean, sordid.
| 1608 Sylvester tr. Odet de la Noue's Paradox agst. Libertie Wks. (1621) 644 Our groueling earth-desires. 1633 G. Herbert Temple, Pearl iv, Not my groveling wit, But thy silk twist let down from heav'n to me, Did..teach me, how by it To climbe to thee. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. iii. 192 You..may be well placed in a rank specifically different from the rest of groveling Humanity. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 13 New ways I must attempt, my groveling Name To raise aloft, and wing my Flight to Fame. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 58 ¶1 One who had written a Treatise upon the Sublime in a low groveling Stile. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xvii. iv, I cannot bear your groveling temper; you have none of the blood of the Westerns in you. 1821 Byron Cain i. i. 289 That is a grovelling wish. 1826 Scott Woodst. ii, The ploughman Desborough—as grovelling a clown as is in England. 1827 Keble Chr. Y., Easter Eve, Lift on high Thy grovelling soul. 1835 Thirlwall Greece I. i. 13 The Bœotians sank into a depth of groveling sensuality. a 1862 Buckle Misc. Wks. (1872) I. 195 Some of the most powerful minds were still corrupted by foolish and grovelling superstition. |
| absol. 1797 Godwin Enquirer i. viii. 75 The groveling and feeble-hearted are consequently discouraged. |
Hence ˈgrovellingly, † ˈgrovellingwise advs., in a grovelling manner.
| 1548–67 Thomas Ital. Dict., Istraboccheuola, fallyng grouelynglie. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. i. 51 Where all other liuing creatures do grouellingwise behold the ground. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 14 Feb. 3/1 His wife..is grovellingly apologetic. |
▪ III. grovelling, groveling, adv. Obs. or arch.; but see grovelling a.
(ˈgrɒv(ə)lɪŋ)
Forms: 4–6 grovelyng(e, 5– groveling, 6– grovelling, (5 grovelinge, groflyng, -eling, 6 grovellynge, gruffelyng, grooveling, -lyn, 7 grovelong, grobling); north. and Sc. 5 grufelynge, growflyng, growelynge, 6 grufling, gruling.
[ME. grovelynge, north. grufelynge, f. groof, grufe + -ling2. After the verb grovel had come into general use the adv. began to be restricted to uses in which it could be apprehended as the pres. pple. used predicatively.]
Face downward; in or to a prone or prostrate position.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 1119 Þise alder men quen he aproched, Grouelyng to his fete þay felle. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) ii. xliii. (1859) 49 Sathanas was fallen grouelinge gretyng and cryenge with a lothely voys, byholding doune in to erthe. 1470–85 Malory Arthur iv. viii, Sir launcelot lepte vpon hym, and pulled hym grouelyng doune. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 79/2 They were trobled and tremblyng fyl doun groflyng on theyr faces upon the ground. 1483 Cath. Angl. 166/2 Grufelynge [MS. A. Growflyng], supinus. 1513 Douglas æneis iii. ix. 37 Gruling on his kneis, He lappit me fast by baith the theis. 1542 Boorde Dyetary E ij, To slepe grouellynge vpon the stomacke and bely is not good. c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) xxxvi. 3 Soir mornyng, grufling on my face. 1598 Hakluyt Voy. I. 54 In regarde of the great winde we were constrained to lye groueling on the earth. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 165 The dead corps of a man floteth on the water with the face vpward, but contrariwise women swim groveling. Ibid. II. 408 Some..lay themselues grouelong with their chinnes touching the ground. 1631 J. Rous Diary (Camden) 60 [She] fell grobling (her armes being foulded) at the head of a payre of staires. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 886 A Bullet..broke and tore off his left Thigh, and threw him groveling. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v., Among Hunters a Deer is said To feed groveling when she feeds upon her Belly, being tir'd with the Chace. 1855 Kingsley Heroes iv. 138 The bull fell grovelling on his knees. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) III. xi. 42 The Earl of the West Saxons bowed himself to the ground, and lay grovelling. |
| transf. 1713 Derham Phys.-Theol. 10 note, Flat Fishes, as Soles, Plaise, &c. which lie always grovelling at the bottom. |
| fig. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. xiii. §119 The royal and loyal party lay grovelling and prostrate after the defeat at Worcester. |
† b. Horizontally. Obs. rare—1.
| 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 74 b, The moste parte [of date stones] haue a nauel in the myddes of theyr bellies. And from that place commeth first furthe y{supt} it diuideth it self into a roote. It is best to saw it grouelyng. |