▪ I. † grot1 Obs.
Forms: 1–4 grot, 3–5 grote, (3 greot), 4 grott(e.
[OE. grot str. neut., related by ablaut to gréot grit n.1, grytt grit n.2, gr{uacu}t grout: see also groats.]
A fragment, particle, atom. every grot = every whit.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxxv. §1 Hu mæᵹ þonne æniᵹ man rihtwislice..acsiᵹan, ᵹif he nan grot rihtwisnesse on him næfð. a 1225 Ancr. R. 260 Of al þe brode eorðe ne moste he habben a grot, forte deien uppon. a 1240 Sawles Warde in Cott. Hom. 251 Iteilede draken..to cheoweð ham euch greot. c 1300 Havelok 472 Of bothen he karf on two here throtes, And sithen hem al to grotes. a 1330 Roland & V. 786 Now ich wot, Ȝour cristen lawe eueri grot. c 1386 Chaucer Friar's Prol. 28, I shal hym quiten euery grot. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iii. xli. (Tollem. MS.), Atthomis a litill þinge, as it were, of þe grotis in þe Sonne beme. 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles Prol. 35 Not to grucchen a grott aȝeine godis sonde. c 1400 St. Alexius (Laud 622) 608 Ac on Ionas fel vche grot. c 1425 Seven Sag. (P.) 2071 Hys eyen, hys nose, and hys throte, Thay fyldan wit golde every grote. |
▪ II. † grot2 Obs.
Also 4 grate.
[a. ON. grát-r, cogn. w. gráta: see grote v.]
Weeping, lamentation.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1577 Grot sal bi-cumen, And wreche of iacob sal bi-numen. Ibid. 1978 Long grot and sorȝe is him bi-tid. Ibid. 2288, 3717. 13.. St. Alexius 570 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 187 His wife kome þan wiþ sorowfull late Wiþ goulinge & wiþ rewfull grate. |
▪ III. grot3 Now only poet.
(grɒt)
Forms: 6–8 grott(e, 7 grote, 6– grot.
[ad. F. grotte: see grotto.]
1. a. = grotto 1.
| 1506 Sir R. Guylforde Pilgr. (Camden) 16 There we lay in the same grotte or caue Frydaye all day vpon the bare, stynkynge, stable grounde. 1598 Florio, Grotta, a grot, a cave, a den, a caverne. 1608 E. Grimstone Hist. France (1611) 1030 To shew him his buildings, his Grots or Caues, and his Chases. 1647 Jer. Taylor Lib. Proph. Ep. Ded. 23 They who for their security runne into grots and cellars. 1670–98 R. Lassels Voy. Italy II. 186 Entring into the Grotte of Pausilipus we found it to be about forty foot high. 1680 Morden Geog. Rect., Germany (1685) 113 In his Palace or Castle of Heidelburg are divers things remarkable, viz. the Grotes and Water-works. 1702 W. J. Bruyn's Voy. Levant xxxvi. 143 Near those Buildings of everlasting continuance there are also some Grotts or Caves. 1753 Johnson Adventurer No. 108 ¶5 A natural grot shaded with myrtles. a 1755 Shenstone in Dodsley Coll. Poems (1755) IV. 351 Here in cool grot and mossy cell We rural fayes and faeries dwell. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles iii. xxviii, Mermaid's alabaster grot. 1901 ‘M. Franklin’ My Brilliant Career xxii. 192 She and Harold would rest while I did the honours of the fern grots to my companion. 1958 R. Liddell Morea ii. i. 45 On the plain there is a spring of excellent water, which comes here underground from the grot of Hermes. |
† b. A crypt under a church. Obs.
| 1658 J. Burbury Hist. Christina A. of Swedland 441 Her Majesty, when she had ador'd the most holy Sacrament, went down into the grots below the Church. 1670–98 R. Lassels Voy. Italy II. 28, I got leave to go down into the Grot under this Church. |
2. = grotto 2.
| 1641 Evelyn Diary 19 Aug., We..went to visit the Hoff, or Prince's Court, with the adjoining gardens full of..grots, fountains, and artificial music. 1693 C. Dryden in Dryden's Juvenal (1607) 172 Lucan..may lie at ease In costly Grotts, and marble Palaces. 1749 Lady Luxborough Let. to Shenstone 24 June, You may be secure in your grott from all intruders, and see your Shrubbery prosper unmolested. 1764 Oxford Sausage 60 Fresh Shade and Vale No more to visit, or vine-mantled Grot. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 366 The Baron is blind to a beauteous day, If it beam in my Lady's grot. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. iii, He opened a cool grot at the end of the yard. |
▪ IV. grot4
(grɒt)
Abbrev. of grotesque n. 3.
| 1961 SIA Jrnl. Sept. 6/2 Typography..is dominated by a particular sort of sans-serif letter, the ‘grotesque’... It is useful to examine this dictatorship of the grot. 1964 L. Deighton Funeral in Berlin i. 11 He sipped..tea from an antique Meissen cup; around mine it said ‘British Railways S.R.’ in brown grot letters. |
▪ V. grot, n.5 slang.
Brit. /grɒt/, U.S. /grɑt/
[Shortened <grotty adj. Compare grot n.4]
1. Brit. and Austral. An unpleasant, dirty, or ugly person.
| 1970 ‘B. Mather’ Break in Line v. 56 This other grot came back and took the order over. 1980 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 16 Apr. 4/3 If you look like a grot, you'll never get a flat. If you sleep on a beach you look like a grot. 1995 A. Warner Morvern Callar (1996) 139 I'm no shy, I'm going topless on the beach anyways, I just hope I get a real honeybunch not some grot, says Lanna. 2000 Townsville (Queensland) Bull. (Nexis) 1 Dec. 32 The two limp-wristed grots have to put up with Mum and Dad going at it like Trojans all night in the room next door. |
2. Brit. Rubbish, dirt, grime. Also: filthiness, grottiness.
| 1971 Civil Service Motoring Sept. 31/2 Old cars, when the insides of their radiator may be coated with a couple of decades' worth of grot, overheat far more readily. 1982 J. Wain Young Shoulders vi. 107 This place, the tawdriness, the awful mound of grot it all is, stands between me and feeling anything. 1992 Independent 19 Jan. 19/3 Glamour posing as grot is a fine spectator sport. 2002 Stationary Engine Mag. July 15/1, I always used to scrape and chisel the worst of any adhering grot off mine simply to find out what was underneath in case it was going to be a waste of time before I started. |
▪ VI. grot, a. slang.
(grɒt)
Shortened form of grotty a.
| 1967 Sun 22 Feb. 6/6 [Teenage terms] Grot, from grotty, itself derived from grotesque. 1983 Listener 11 Aug. 14/1 What with grot hotels..and general anxiety, I had not had what I would call a meal since leaving Khartoum. 1985 Times 3 Sept. 8/2 A new film can be ‘totally brilliant’ or ‘totally grot’. |