▪ I. grizzle, a. and n.1
(ˈgrɪz(ə)l)
Forms: 4, 7 grisel, 4–7 -ell, 5 -elle, gresel, grysselle, 6 gresle, grysle, 6–7 gryselle, grissell, 7–8 grisle, grissel, grizle, 7– grizzle.
[a. OF. grisel, f. gris: see gris a.]
A. adj. Of grey colour, grey, grizzled. † Formerly also, of a horse: Roan.
| c 1425 Thomas of Erceld. 382 Stedis..baye and broun, grysselle [v.r. gresel] and graye. 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII (1809) 578 Weryng a Cote of Orange tawny on a horse cooler grysell, trottyng. 1570 Levins Manip. 147/37 Grysle coloure, glauculus. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. (1807–8) IV. 694 The friers minors..whose apparell was grisell garments girded with cords full of knots. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. ii. iii. Colonies 40 The grissell Turtles..Dis-payer'd and parted, wander one by one. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 397 To preserue the haire from being gray and grisle. 1634–5 Brereton Trav. (Chetham) 151 A grissell gelding. 1706 Lond. Gaz. No. 4277/4 She is about 14 Hands and a half high, with a small grizle star in her Forehead. 1748 Whitehall Evening Post No. 405, Grey Breeches, and a light Grizzle Wig. 1808 J. P. Malcolm Mann. & Cust. Lond. 437 Light grizzle Ties [i.e. wigs] three guineas. 1832 J. Taylor Rec. my Life I. 331 An actor..had dressed himself like a doctor, with a large grizzle wig. |
b. Comb., as grizzle-headed, grizzle-white adjs.; grizzle-pate, a grey-headed old man.
| 1880 Ouida Moths I. 18 Fräulein Schroder..was not beautiful to the eye, and was *grizzle-headed. |
| 1797 M. Robinson Walsingham II. 171 Sport your glass-blinkers, old *grizzle-pate! |
| 1691 Lond. Gaz. No. 2631/4 Rid away.., a bay Mare about 14 hands,..two *grissell white patches on the Rump. |
B. n.
† 1. A nickname for a grey-haired old man. Obs.
| 1390 Gower Conf. III. 356 That olde grisel is no fole. c 1393 Chaucer Scogan 35 But wel I wit þou wilt answere & seye ‘Lo! olde grisel leste to ryme and pleye’. a 1420 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 401 This olde doted griselle holte him wise. |
2. A grey animal; esp. a grey horse.
| a 1620 J. Armstrong's Last Goodnt. xx. in Child Ballads (1889) III. 369 But little Musgrave, that was his foot-page, With his bonny grissell got away untain. Ibid. xxiii, Thou are welcome home, my bonny grisel! Full oft thou hast fed at the corn and hay. 1765 Treat. Dom. Pigeons 54 Blacks, black-grisles, black-splash'd, yellows, whites, duns. |
3. Grey hair; a sprinkling of grey hairs.
| 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 168 O thou dissembling Cub: what wilt thou be When time hath sow'd a grizzle on thy case? 1810 Splendid Follies I. 17 A broad frizzed toupée, well powdered to conceal the grizzles that occasionally peeped over her scarified cheek. 1851 Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xxiii, These parts [head and neck] were covered with a dirty grizzle of mixed hues. |
b. A grey wig.
| 1755 Connoisseur No. 65 ¶9 His very grizzle is scarce orthodox. 1756 Ibid. No. 105 ¶2 Pudding-sleeves, starched bands, and feather-top grizzles. 1766 Anstey Bath Guide xi. 127 Emerg'd from his Grizzle, th' unfortunate Sprig Seems as if he was hunting all Night for his Wig. 1816 Scott Antiq. xvii, Sir Arthur's ramilies being the positive, his own bob-wig the comparative, and the overwhelming grizzle of the worthy clergyman figuring as the superlative. |
4. Grey colour; the colour grey. † Formerly also: Light roan.
| 1611 Markham Countr. Content. i. xix. (1649) 105 Your Henne..must be of a right plume, as gray, grissel, speckt, or yellowish, black or brown is not amisse. 1706 in Phillips (ed. Kersey), Grissel, a light Rount, or light Flesh-Colour in Horses. 1893 Lydekker Horns & Hoofs 126 The legs are dark brown in front, and paler behind, with a whitish grizzle pervading their whole extent. |
5. A second-class stock brick. (So called from its colour; cf. grey stock, grey a. 8.)
| 1843 Mech. Mag. XXXIX. 192 The grizzles obtained a price midway between the two last named [stocks and places]. 1865 Pall Mall G. 19 Sept. 11/1 Here you may see a ‘grizzle’ and a ‘malm-brick’. 1879 Notes Build. Construct. iii. 105 Grizzle and Place bricks are underburnt. They are very weak. |
▪ II. grizzle, n.2
(ˈgrɪz(ə)l)
[f. grizzle v.2]
1. One who grizzles or frets.
| 1893 Mrs. C. Praed Outlaw & Lawmaker III. 102 Lady Waveryng, however, was not a woman to fret vainly over the inevitable. Lord Waveryng was far more of a ‘grizzle’. |
2. A bout of grumbling or sulking; a peevish mood; a fretful effusion.
| 1900 in Eng. Dial. Dict. 1908 A. M. N. Lyons Arthur's i. ii. 12 At first I thought she was goin' to do a grizzle, but she turned round quick, with a kind of smile. 1923 U. L. Silberrad Lett. J. Armiter xi. §2, Opportunity to write a good long letter to make up for the short grizzle of last month. 1930 H. M. Tomlinson All our Yesterdays i. viii. 85 Out he went without saying good-bye.., which would have given any girl the grizzles. |
▪ III. grizzle, v.1
(ˈgrɪz(ə)l)
[f. grizzle a. or back-formation from grizzled a.]
1. trans. To render grey or grey-haired.
| 1740 Somerville Hobbinol ii. 218 He spur'd his sober Steed, grizled with Age, And venerably dull. 1822 Byron Werner iii. iv. 153 The grey Begins to grizzle the black hair of night. 1822 Scott Nigel xxii, The colour with which time had begun to grizzle her tresses. 1827 Clare Sheph. Cal. 4 Night Hastens to..grizzle o'er the chilly sky. |
2. intr. To become grey or grey-haired.
| 1875 Lowell Lett. (1894) II. 151, I suppose you are a gray old boy by this time. I am just beginning to grizzle with the first hoar-frost. 1894 Athenæum 24 Nov. 705/1 [A Chinese sonneteer will allude] to the crow's-feet of wisdom around the first sonneteer's own eyes and the poetical grizzling of his own pigtail. |
▪ IV. grizzle, v.2 local.
(ˈgrɪz(ə)l)
1. intr. To show the teeth; to grin or laugh, esp. mockingly.
| 1746 Exmoor Scolding 58 (E.D.S.) Tamzen and Thee be olweys..stivering or grizzling, tacking or busking. Ibid. Gloss., To Grizzle, to grin, or smile with a sort of Sneer. 1837 Mrs. Palmer Devon. Dial. 14 The ould man grizzled: No sure, lovy, zed he, I ne'er had the leastest inkling for such a thing. 1880 W. Cornwall Gloss. s.v., ‘What's the g'eat bufflehead grizzling at?’ ‘He grizzled at me; he was as vexed as fire’. |
2. To fret, sulk; to cry in a whining or whimpering fashion. Hence ˈgrizzling vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1842 Catnach Ballad in Westm. Gaz. 7 Apr. (1899) 2/2 Useless is our grumbling, our grizzling, or mumbling. 1867 E. Yates Forlorn Hope xxix. 392, I went abroad, and remained grizzling and feeding on my own heart for months. 1872 M. E. Braddon To Bitter End I. xvi. 264 ‘If the locket's lost, it's lost’, and there's no use in grizzling about it. 1887 Kentish Gloss. s.v., She's such a grizzling woman. 1889 ‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms xxxiii, He'd sit grizzling and smoking by himself all day long. No getting a word out of him. |
▪ V. grizzle, v.3 local.
(ˈgrɪz(ə)l)
[Origin unknown.]
trans. and intr. To fry, frizzle, over-cook.
| 1900 in Eng. Dial. Dict. 1913 H. S. Walpole Fortitude i. viii. 98 Poor old man..nobody loves him..to hell with the lot of 'em..let 'em grizzle in hell fire. 1941 J. Cary House of Children 202 Four or five men surrounded the table,..eating and calling out to the girl not to grizzle the bacon. |