▪ I. girn, n.1 Sc.
(gɜːn)
Also 4–6 gyrne, 6 girne.
[var. of grin n.1]
1. a. † A noose (obs.). b. A snare or trap for catching animals or birds, made of hair, wire, or the like, with a running noose.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Paulus 1140 He a stalowart gyrne can ma To hang hym-self with be þe hals. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (1858) I. 108 With falsheid he thame fed, As quha wald set ane girne befoir ane gled. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. 186 He commandit, that na haris be slane..nor yet tane be nettis or girnis. 1721 Court Bk. Barony of Urie (1892) 119 Killed with guns..girns or other ingines. 1824–7 Moir Mansie Wauch (1833) xxiv. 186 The vagabond's girn was set. |
2. fig. A snare, trap, wile.
| c 1375 Sc. Troy-bk. ii. 999 The quhilkes frome gyrnes of dede Ware eschapede. 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. 61 b, Thai that will be riche, fallis into temptatioun and in the gyrne of the deuil. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scotl. x. 462 Thame selfes skairse could defend from the girnes of this Edicte. 1721 Ramsay Rise & Fall of Stocks 35 Stock-jobbers, brokers..Wha set their gowden girns sae wylie, Tho ne'er sae cautious, they'd beguile ye. |
▪ II. girn, n.2 Obs. exc. Sc.
(gɜːn)
[f. girn v.1]
1. The act of showing the teeth, a snarl.
| 1535 [see gape n. 1]. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. iii. ii, Euen so the Duke frownes for all this Cursond world: oh that gerne kils, it kils. a 1861 T. Woolner My beautiful Lady (1863) 107 A poring spectre shall be seen With livid stare and girn. 1870 in Ramsay Remin. (ed. 18) p. xxxiii, His girn's waur than his bite. 1883 A. S. Swan Aldersyde iii. 51 A smile..afterwards described as resembling the ‘girn o' a rat’. |
b. Sc. A snarling tone.
| 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 161 Lettin out the dry dusty moral apothegms wi' ae continued and monotonous girn. |
† 2. = grin n.2 Obs. rare.
| 1636 Davenant Witts iv. ad fin., This is at least a girne of Fortune, if Not a faire smile. 1711 E. Ward Quix. I. 67 Scoff'd him, unseen, with Winks and Girns. |
▪ III. girn, v.1
(gɜːn)
Forms: 4–6 gyrn(e, 5–6 girne, 6 gern(e, 6–7 gearne, 8 guern, 6– girn.
[var. grin v. with metathesis of r.]
1. intr. To show the teeth in rage, pain, disappointment, etc.; to snarl as a dog; to complain persistently; to be fretful or peevish. Also to girn at. Now only north. and Sc.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce iv. 322 Than lukit he awfully thame to, And said, gyrnand, ‘hangis & drawis!’ c 1440 York Myst. xxxiii. 23 Þat gome þat gyrnes or gales, I myself sall hym hurte full sore. 1513 Douglas æneis ix. ii. 65 The wyld wolf..Abowt the bowght, plet all of wandis tyght, Bayis and gyrnis. 1529 More Comf. agst. Trib. iii. Wks. 1254/1 The bitch had founde the foote agayn: & on she came gerning. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. iii. 15 His face was ugly and his countenance sterne..And gaped like a gulfe when he did gerne. a 1693 Urquhart Rabelais iii. xvii, The old Trot for a while remained silent, pensive, and girning like a Dog. 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) I. 31 We hang our lugs and wi' a gloom, Girn'd at stockjobbing ane and a'. 1790 A. Wilson 1st Ep. to J. Dobie Poet. Wks. (1846) 18 While chaunrin' critics girn and growl, And curse whate'er they light on. 1837 R. Nicoll Poems (1843) 133 She's girnin' at e'enin'—she's girnin' at morn—a' hours o' the day in my flesh she's a thorn. 1855 Browning Old Pictures in Florence ix, The mastiff girns And the puppy pack of poodles yelp. 1863 Kingsley Water-Bab. v, How she [the otter] did grin and girn when she saw Tom. 1886 Stevenson Kidnapped vi. 50 He's a wicked auld man, and there's many would like to see him girning in a tow. |
b. quasi-trans.
| 1894 Crockett Raiders (ed. 3) 120, I could only girn my teeth at him. |
c. trans. To utter in a snarling tone.
| 1847 E. Brontë Wuthering Heights xvii. 148 ‘Isabella, let me in, or I'll make you repent!’ he ‘girned’ as Joseph calls it. |
† 2. To show the teeth in laughing; to grin. Obs.
| 1552 Latimer Serm. Lincolnsh. v. 105 They goe with the corses girning and fleering, as though they went to a beare⁓bayting. 1593 Pass. Morrice (1876) 80 After that girne like a monkie that sees her dinner. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. i. iii. B ij, Laugh not..When thou dost girne, thy rusty face doth looke Like the head of a rosted rabbit. 1617 F. Moryson Itin. i. 247 The rascall multitude..ceased not to girn and laugh at our sighes and teares. a 1711 Ken Edmund Poet. Wks. 1721 II. 299 Curs'd Satan guerning stood, the while he spake. |
Add: Also 20 gurn (esp. in sense 3). 3. Chiefly north. dial. To pull a face, grimace; esp. to take part in a grinning-match (see grinning vbl. n. b).
| 1900 Eng. Dial. Dict. II. 623/1 [Westmorland] The person who could girn to the judge's satisfaction would get a quarter of a pound of tobacco for a prize. 1968 G. Findler Folk Lore Lake Counties 57 The entrants must put their heads through a horse collar and grin or ‘gurn’. 1989 Observer 4 June 75/2 Another hallowed tradition. They were ‘gurning’. The man adjudged to have the most grotesque visage is declared gurning champ. |
Hence (in sense *3) ˈgirner n., one who girns, esp. in a competition.
| 1932 Whitehaven News 22 Sept. 8/5 (heading) World's champion ‘gurner’. 1987 Daily Tel. (Weekend Suppl.) 11 Apr. p. vii/3 She may be a good gurner, but is she a good talker? |
▪ IV. girn, v.2 Sc.
(gɜːn)
Also 4 gyrne.
[f. girn n.1]
trans. † a. fig. To ensnare (obs.). b. To catch in a girn or trap (cf. quot. 1825–80).
| c 1375 Sc. Troy-bk. ii. 366 But he, gyrnede syne atte last Inne ȝharnynge of the golde so rede. 1825–80 Jamieson, Girn, (1) to catch by means of a girn; (2) to catch trouts by means of a noose of hair. 1866 T. Bruce Summer Queen 320 I'll make sure To girn him like a hare. 1896 Crockett Cleg Kelly xiii. 96 As if he had been ‘girning’ sticklebacks and ‘bairdies’ in the shallow burns. |