grandsire
(ˈgrændsaɪə(r), ˈgrænsaɪər)
Forms: see grand a. and sire; also 4 graunsire, -ser, 5 granser, grawn(e)sire, -syre, 6 graynser; Sc. 6 grant-, grandschir, 7 grandsher, -ir, 9 gran(d)sher, dial. gransir.
[a. AF. graunt sire: see grand a. 12 b and sire.]
1. = grandfather 1. arch. and dial.
| c 1290 Beket 473 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 120 Bi þe kingus daye henries þat ovre graunt-sire was. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 6353 Vor he wilnede vorto ligge is grantsire ney. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 259 Sarug was Abraham his fader graunsire. c 1400 Destr. Troy 2169 Synkes not in your sowle þe sorow of your graunser. 1474 Caxton Chesse 53 Counceyllour of his fader his grauntsire and of his grauntsirs fader. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 124 Hys grauntsirs [misprinted gramitsirs] fader was an harper and meter of landes. 1501 Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 151 All the estayts made by your graynser and father. 1587 Mirr. Mag., Q. Cordila vi. 1 My grandsire Bladud hight. 1605 Camden Rem. 212 My father was King of England..and his father my grandsire was also King of England. 1697 Potter Antiq. Greece (1715) I. i. xxvi. 169 If an Heiress is contracted lawfully in full Marriage by a Father or Grand-sire. 1725 Pope Odyss. xix. 566 His grandsire sent him to the sylvan chace. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles ii. xxvii, By Woden wild, (my grandsire's oath). 1863 Longfellow Wayside Inn Prel. 112 The sword his grandsire bore. 1876 Whitby Gloss., Gransir, grandfather. |
b. The sire of a sire (of an animal,
esp. a horse).
| 1881 Encycl. Brit. XII. 184 Another chestnut [horse], but with the characteristic black spots of his grandsire. |
c. † first grandsire,
great grandsire = great-grandfather. (See also
great a. 21 b.)
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 13602 Aschatus..þat is my fader so fre, and þi first graunser. |
2. Sc. A great-grandfather. (
Cf. grandfather 2.)
| 1543 Sc. Acts Mary (1814) II. 432/1 O{supr} souerane ledyis feder..hir guidschir, & grantschir. 1592 Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1814) III. 619/1 His maiesties vmquhile darrest grandschir. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 91 The father, gudsher, and grandsher. 1641 Sc. Acts Chas. I (1870) V. 696/2 The estate..Hes beine possest be me my father gudshir and grandshir thir thriescoir and ten yeires bygane. 1806 R. Jamieson's Pop. Ball. I. 292 His gransher, his gutsher, his daddie. |
3. A forefather, progenitor.
arch.| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 52/182 Þe kyng Alfred, is graunt⁓sire, þat hous a-rerd hadde. 1573 Twyne æneid x. (1584) Q v, Thy soule vnto thy grandsiers gosts..I send. 1599 H. Buttes Dyets drie Dinner A a iij, Our Grand-sire Adam. 1693 C. Dryden in J. D.'s Juvenal vii. (1697) 182 In Peace, ye Shades of our Great Grandsires rest. 1847 Tennyson Princ. i. 6 Some sorcerer, whom a far-off grand⁓sire burnt Because he cast no shadow. 1896 F. Hall in Nation (N.Y.) LXII. 157/2 Our colonial grandsires of course stressed the first syllable in hired man. |
| appositive. 1649 Milton Eikon. xx. Wks. (1847) 321/1 So did..our grandsire papists in this realm. |
4. A man of an age befitting a grandfather; an old man.
arch.| 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. iv. v. 50 Do good old grandsire, & withall make known Which way thou trauellest. 1819 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd (1827) 10 Auld grandshers at their doors sat beikin'. |
5. attrib. (quasi-adj.)| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. iv. 37 For I am prouerb'd with a Grandsier Phrase. 1637 N. Whiting Albino & Bellama (1638) 85 Yet had their pleasure not a grand-sire life. 1856 R. A. Vaughan Mystics viii. iv. (1860) II. 56 Yon grey promontory, about whose grandsire knees the waves are gambolling. |
6. Bell-ringing. A particular method of ringing the changes on a ring of bells; its varieties are designated
grandsire cinque,
grandsire bob,
grandsire triples, etc.
| 1671 Tintinnalogia 95 Grandsire is the best and most ingenious Peal that ever was composed, to be rang on five bells. Ibid. 102 This Peal of Grandsire..is the absolute foundation from whence the excellent Peal of Grandsire bob (on six bells) had its beginning and method. 1671, 1677 [see bob n.5]. 1798 in Gentl. Mag. (1825) XCV. i. 298 A full and compleat peal of grandsire tripples, consisting of 5040 changes. 1809 in Southey Comm.-pl. Bk. IV. 390 A peal of grandsire-bob-cators containing 126 changes. 1872 Ellacombe Ch. Bells Devon iii. 40 The College Youths rang at..S. Bride's, London, the first peal of 5000 grandsire cinques on twelve bells. 1883 B'ham Daily Post 19 Oct. 7 A peal of 10,176 changes of grandsire majors..This is the longest peal ever rung..upon hand-bells. |