▪ I. girning, vbl. n.
(ˈgɜːnɪŋ)
[f. girn v.1 + -ing1.]
The action of the verb girn1.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xiii. 157 Ther wes..Sic gyrnyng, granyng; and so gret A noyis, as thai can othir bet. 1580 North Plutarch (1676) 841 The Greyhound..at the first began to answer them with a soft girning; but when they came by the Tower where he lay, he barked out aloud. a 1693 Urquhart Rabelais iii. xiii. 106 He..was..environed about so with the barking of Currs..girning of Boars. 1792 A. Wilson Watty & Mag xxxviii, Owre the seas I march this morning, Listet, testet, sworn an a', Forc'd by your confounded girning. a 1810 Tannahill Poet. Wks. (1846) 105 Wi' girning her neb's like the gab o' the fleuk. |
(Examples in sense *3 of the vb.)
| 1900 Eng. Dial. Dict. II. 623/1 Girnin matches used to be a part of the local sports of Westmoreland. 1930 Whitehaven News 25 Sept. 8/4 Mr. David Jackson has regained the title of ‘World's Gurning Champion’... This year we had ‘gurning’ at its best. 1949 N. Nicholson Cumberland & Westmorland iii. ix. 196 Gurning consists of putting your head through a horse-collar and pulling the ugliest face possible. 1988 People (Sydney) 4 Jan. 67/1 Gurning championships are held regularly in Europe and America. |
▪ II. girning, ppl. a. Sc. and dial.
(ˈgɜːnɪŋ)
Also 6 girnand, gerning.
[f. girn v.1 + -ing2.]
1. Sc. That ‘girns’; ill-humoured, snarling.
| 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 86 Julyan..to hir seyd wyth chere gyrnyng Now [etc.]. c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fab. 85 With girnand teeth and awfull angrie luke. 1508 Dunbar Tua mariit wemen 290 Quhen that the chuf wald me chid, with girnand chaftis. 1785 Burns To W. Simpson xxviii, I've even seen them greetin Wi' girnin' spite. 1824 Scott St. Ronan's xxxi, The cappernoity, old girning ale⁓wife may wait long enough or I forward it. |
† 2. Grinning. Obs. rare—1.
| 1599 Marston Sco. Villanie iii. xi. 227 That iest-mounging youth Who nere did ope his Apish gerning mouth But to retaile and broke anothers wit. |