grunch, v. Sc. Obs. exc. arch.
(grʌnʃ)
Also 6 grunsch, 6, 9 gruntch.
[Perh. a modification of grutch v., influenced by grunt.]
intr. To grumble, express discontent. Const. at. Also with inf. To grudge, to object.
| 14.. Dietary 15 in Barbour's Bruce (E.E.T.S.) 538 Mek in troubill, glad in pouerte..Neuir grunching, bot mery lik thi degre. 1513 Douglas æneis viii. Prol. 165 As I grunchit at this grum, and glysnyt about. Ibid. x. xi. 61 Quhilk be thy wordis of fatale destane Now grunschis thou to give or to conceid. c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) xxxiv. 92 For, haif ane bismeir baggis, Ȝe grunche no{supt} at hir grunȝe. 1616 Barbour's Bruce (ed. Hart) 24 And gif his keeper oft grunches [MSS. gruchys] Looke that thou take him magre his. |
b. quasi-trans. with cognate obj.: To utter grumblingly; to grumble out.
| 1819 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd (1827) 55 His drone did gruntch sae dour a sound, Black Pluto heard it under⁓ground. |
Hence ˈgrunching vbl. n. and ppl. a. Also ˈgruncher, one who ‘grunches’ or grumbles; in quot. a nickname.
| 1498 Barbour's Bruce xvi. 9 (MS.C.) And he hym levit with a grunching [MS.E. gruching]. c 1470 Henryson Mor. Fab. ii. (Cock & Fox) xxii, To-gidder all but grunching furth ye glide. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 171 With grunschand luke quhen scho [Fortoun] lykis to greif. c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) xxxiii. 14 Sturt, angir, grunching, yre, and greif. 1892 Macm. Mag. Dec. 128 One of the contemporaries of my own bright days was known as ‘the Gruncher’. Ibid. 129, I vow and declare that grunching was no spontaneous growth in my nature. |