▪ I. † greet, n.1 Obs.
[f. greet v.1]
The action of greet v.1; a greeting.
| c 1590 Greene Fr. Bacon ix. 205 Let me that joy in these consorting greets..Yield thanks for all these favours to my son. a 1616 Beaumont Sonnet Poems (1640) 4 The broken marrow bone is sweet, The token doth adorn the greet. a 1634 Randolph De Magnete 64 Poems (1638) 31 She dares goe forth alone..and with a winning greet The tumour of his high swolne breast asswage. |
▪ II. greet, n.2 Obs. exc. Sc.
(griːt)
Also 3–4 gret, 3–6 grete, 5 greit, 6 greete.
[f. greet v.2]
1. Weeping, lamentation; also, a cry of sorrow.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3888, xxx. daiȝes ðat folc in wep Wið bedes, and gret, and teres wep. a 1300 Cursor M. 14008 Þar-wit sco fell on suilk a grete. 13.. Sir Beues (A.) 3129 Iosian..spak to hire wiþ loude gret. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. 324 (Douce MS.) With a grisly grete Þe goste a-wey glides. c 1480 Henryson Orpheus 139 in Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Club) 927 Now weip with me..And all thy game thow change in gole and greit. 1513 Douglas æneis xii. ii. 49 Persew me nocht thus with ȝour grete and teris. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Aug. 66 Per. Well decked in a frocke of gray. Wil. Hey, ho, gray is greete [Gloss. weeping and complaint]. 1591 Greene Maiden's Dream iv, A golden hind..Whose valed eares bewraid her inward greet. a 1650 Sir Lambewell 61 in Furniv. Percy Folio I. 146 Sobbing & greet. a 1801 R. Gall Poems (1819) 76 The widow's greet, the baby's cry He winna lout to hear. 1898 Bullock Mem. Congreg. Ch. Aberdeen viii. 101 His admonitions were not the less powerful though given with ‘the greet in his throat’. |
† 2. A prayer or entreaty. Obs. rare—1.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 2757 Þai grauntid the grete with a glad chere. |
▪ III. greet, v.1
(griːt)
Forms: 1 grœ́tan, grétan, (3 græten, 3 Orm. gretenn, 4 greten), 3–5 grete, (5 greth, gretyn), 6–7 greete, 6– greet. Imper. 4 gret. pa. tense (2 greite), 3–5, 7 gret, 3–6 grett(e, 5 grete, (6 gryte), 6– greeted. pa. pple. 3 gret, (igrette), 4 grett, (5 greet), 8– greeted.
[Com. WGer.: OE. grœ́tan wk. vb., corresponds to OFris. grêta, OS. grôtian (Du. groeten), OHG. gruoȥȥan (MHG. grüeȥen, mod.G. grüszen):—WGer. *grôtjan, related to *grôto-z, *grôtâ n. (MHG. gruoȥ, mod.G. grusz masc.; MDu. groet masc. and fem., Du. groet masc.).
The primary sense is uncertain; the senses of early occurrence in continental Teut. are ‘to approach’, ‘to call upon’, ‘to provoke or compel to action’, ‘to attack’, ‘to irritate, annoy’, ‘to address, salute’, In mod.Ger. and Du. as in Eng. the sense ‘salute’ has become the prominent one, such other senses as survive being now apprehended as transferred from this. (The n., which may be only a back-formation, expresses the action of the vb. in all senses.) The ultimate etymology is equally uncertain with the radical meaning; many scholars refer the word to OAryan *ghrōd-: ghrēd- to resound (see greet v.2), on which supposition the primary sense should be ‘to call on’; another view is that the Teut. root *grôt- is an extension of the root which appears in Gr. as χρ{gamacbreve} with the sense ‘to approach closely, touch’, etc.]
† 1. trans. In various senses which did not survive beyond OE.: To approach, come up to; to begin upon, begin to treat or handle, take in hand. Obs.
| a 700 Epinal Gloss. 210 Convenio, groetu vel adjuro. [c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke viii. 28 Þætte ðu mec ne ᵹegoroeta (ne me torqueas).] c 1000 Endowments of Men 49 in Exeter Bk., Sum mid hondum mæᵹ hearpan gretan. c 1000 Soul & Body 139 Ðeah ðe wyrmas ᵹyt ᵹifre gretaþ. c 1000 ælfric Gram. ix. (Z.) 49 On scortne as ᵹeendiað grecisce naman, ac we ne gretað nu ða. |
† 2. To assail, attack. Obs. (After 15th c. prob. only as a transferred or ironical use of sense 3.)
| Beowulf (Z.) 3080 Þæt he ne grette gold-weard þone. c 893 K. ælfred Oros. v. ii. §2 Siþan wæs eallum þæm oþrum swa micel eᵹe from him þæt hi hiene leng gretan ne dorstan. a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 1755 (Gr.) Gif ðe æniᵹ eorðbuendra mid wean greteð. c 1300 Havelok 1811 Wit þe barre so he him grette. 13.. K. Alis. 3789 A duyk of Perce sone he mette With his launce he him grette. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 18 Harald of Donesmore vppon Done him mette Vibrand..with suerd so him grette, Þat þorghout his armes Wibrand alle to hewe. c 1440 Ipomydon 1140 Ipomydon so Campanus grette, That knyght and stede..Felle on hepe, in mydde the place. [1594 Marlowe Edw. II, i. iv. 266 How easily might some base slave be suborn'd To greet his lordship with a poniard. 1880 J. O'Hagan Song of Roland ccxxviii, I will him body to body greet, Give him the lie with my brand of steel.] |
3. To accost or address with the expressions of goodwill or courtesy usual on meeting; to offer in speech or writing to (a person) the expression of one's own or another's friendly or polite regard. Now only literary. † Formerly often to greet (a person) fair, friendly, well.
| Beowulf 614 Cwen..grette..guman on healle. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Mark xv. 18 Ongunnon hine þus gretan hal wes þu iudea cyning. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 121 Þet folc..hine greite and cleopede king on bismer. c 1205 [see fair adv. 2]. a 1300 Cursor M. 4339 Quen he had hir hend-li gret. c 1325 Lay le Freine 257 The abbesse and the nonnes alle, Fair him gret in the gest-halle. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2170 Go forth..& gret wel my doȝtre dere. c 1410 Love Bonavent. Mirr. iv. (Gibbs MS.), What tyme þat oure blessed lady grette Elizabeth. c 1470 Henry Wallace v. 974 Rycht gudlye he with humylness him gret. 1553 Q. Mary in Strype Eccl. Mem. III. App. i. 3 We grete you well. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. iv. v. 13 There's other of our friends Will greet vs heere anon. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), To Greet (old Word), to salute. 1742 Blair To W. Law 115 If..thou greets Heaven's King, and shoutest through the..streets. 1794 Sir W. Jones Instit. Hindu Law ii. §132 The wife of his brother..must be saluted every day; but his paternal and maternal kinswomen need only be greeted on his return from a journey. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. i. xxii, Greet the Father well from me. 1866 G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. xxix. (1878) 501, I had passed Jane Rodgers..and having just greeted her, had gone on. |
| fig. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. ii. 19 He, tumbling doune alive With bloudy mouth his mother earth did kis, Greeting his grave. 1601 Weever Mirr. Mart. E v, With neare embracements Weeuer, Mersey met, And both together th' Irish Seas they gret. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. iv. 62 Not a friend greet My poore corpes. |
b. absol.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2864 God..of israel ðe bode sente, and greteð wel, ðat, bi ði leue, hise folc vt-fare. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. i. i. 90 There greete in silence as the dead are wont. 1591 ― 1 Hen. VI, iv. iii. 42 Away, vexation almost stoppes my breath, That sundred friends greete in the hour of death. 1700 Dryden Pal. & Arc. ii. 191 None greets, for none the greeting will return. |
c. To salute with words or gestures; transf. to receive at meeting or arrival with some speech or action (whether friendly or otherwise) in lieu of salutation.
| a 1000 Juliana 164 in Exeter Bk., Hy þa se æðeling grette..bliþum wordum. a 1225 Ancr. R. 430 Greteð þe lefdi mid one Aue Marie. a 1300 Cursor M. 15014 Ald and yong, bath less and mare, Wit a word alle him grett. c 1440 J. Capgrave Life St. Kath. iii. 1444 My sone gretheth yow now wyth his good blyssyng. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 78 When he gryte her with thys Aue. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. xxvi. (Arb.) 67 The same Musicians..greeted them with a Psalme of new applausions. 1703 Rowe Fair Penit. i. i. 252 The Gifts With which I greet the Man whom my Soul hates. 1835 W. Irving Tour Prairies 58 Our arrival at the camp was greeted with acclamation. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xvi, The merry man was the first to greet the strangers with a nod. 1852 Tennyson Ode Wellington 21 No more in soldier fashion will he greet With lifted hand the gazer in the street. 1868 ― Lucretius 7 The woman..ran To greet him with a kiss. |
† d. To honour (a person) with a gift. Obs.
| a 1225 Leg. Kath. 798 To beon mid gold & gersum igrette. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 187 He that repenteth rathest schulde arysen aftur And greten sir Gloten with a galun of ale. |
† e. In Spenser: to offer congratulations on (an achievement, etc.); const. unto or dat.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. iii. 14 Thether also came..Florimell..To greet his guerdon unto every knight. Ibid. 15 Florimell..goodly gan to greet his brave emprise. Ibid. xi. 15 She towards him in hast her selfe did draw To greet him the good fortune of his hand. |
f. Of cries, demonstrations: To be addressed to or evoked by (a person or incident), to ‘hail’.
| 1874 Green Short Hist. viii. §3. 487 Shouts of assent greeted the resolution. |
† g. To gratify, please. Obs.
| a 1592 Greene Jas. IV, i. i, You greet me well if so you will her good. 1608 Shakes. Per. iv. 38, I finde It greets mee as an enterprize of kindnesse performd to your sole daughter. |
4. To receive or meet with demonstrations of welcome.
| 1605 Shakes. Lear v. i. 54 We will greet the time. c 1611 Chapman Iliad xxiv. 152 Let him greet alone The Grecian nauie. 1682 Tate Abs. & Achit. ii. 628 Who..greet thy landing with a trembling joy. 1786 Burns To Mountain Daisy 11 The bonnie Lark..Wi' spreckl'd breast, When upward-springing, blythe, to greet The purpling east. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. II. 295 The cavalcade..was greeted two miles from the city by the bishop and clergy. 1855 Ibid. xii. III. 242 The whole population..came to the shore to greet them. |
† b. intr. To meet with. Obs.
| 1599 Massinger, etc. Old Law i. i, You have a Lodge, sir, So far remote from way of passengers That seldome any mortall eye does greet with it. |
5. Of a thing: To present itself to. Now only of sights or sounds: To meet (the eye, ear).
| 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 43 The Sea on one side greets its Marble Walls. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xviii. 160 The pageant which had greeted his eyes as he entered Le Mans. 1872 Jenkinson Guide Eng. Lakes (1879) 307 A wide extent of sea greets the eye. |
▪ IV. greet, v.2 Now only Sc. and north. dial.
(griːt)
Forms: 1 grétan, gréotan, 3–5 grete, 4–5 gret, 4–6 greete, 6 grate, griet, 6–7 greit, 7– greet. pa. tense 3–5 gret(t, 4 grete, 5 grette; 3, 5–9 grat. β. 5 gretid. pa. pple. 3 graten, i-groten, 4 greten, 5 gret, 9 grutten.
[Two distinct but synonymous words have here coalesced: (1) OE. grǽtan (only in Anglian form grétan), presumably a redupl. str. vb. with pa. tense *grét, pa. pple. *grǽten (a wk. pa. pple. occurs once in the pl. begrétte), corresp. to OS. grátan (only once in pa. tense griat, v.r. griot) to weep, MHG. graȥen (wk.) to cry out, rage, storm, ON. gráta, pa. tense grét (Sw. gråta, Da. græde), Goth. grêtan, pa. tense gaigrôt:—OTeut. *græ̂tan, f. OAryan root *ghrēd-: ghrōd- found also in Skr. hrād to resound (cf. greet v.1); (2) OE. gréotan (pa. tense *gréat, *gruton, pa. pple. *groten) = OS. griotan, greotan; possibly evolved from a pa. tense of the redupl. vb. grǽtan; possibly a compound with prefix *ga- of the synonymous str. vb. found in OE. as réotan. Prof. Sievers suggests that both vbs. may descend from a common pre-Teut. root *ghrēud-, the long diphthong being differentiated into Teut. æ̂ and eu.
The gloss ‘mereo [= mæreo], groeto’ in the Corpus Glossary is difficult to explain; most prob. groeto is simply miswritten for gréto (or gréoto) owing to confusion with greet v.1]
1. intr. To weep, cry, lament, grieve; † rarely said of the eyes.
| Beowulf 1342 Þeᵹne moneᵹum se þe æfter sinc-gyfan on sefan greoteþ. c 725 Corpus Gloss. 1305 Mereo, groeto. a 900 Cynewulf Crist 991 Beornas gretað. a 1000 Sal. & Sat. 376 (Gr.) Heo..sceall oft..greotan. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2341 So e gret, ðat alle hise wlite wurð teres wet. a 1300 Cursor M. 15006 Almast for ioi þai grette. a 1340 Hampole Psalter lv. 13 The eghen may grete. 1375 Barbour Bruce iii. 347 At leve-takyng the ladyis gret, And mak thar face with teris wet. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xi. 46 Petre grette full tenderly, when he had forsaken Criste. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 570 Þe childe was sary and þerfore grett. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 39 The turtil began for to greit, quhen the cuschet ȝoulit. 1557 Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 252 Graunt grace to him that grates therfore with sea of saltish brine. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Apr. 1 Tell me, good Hobbinoll. what garres thee greete? 1632 Brome North. Lasse v. vi. Wks. 1873 III. 93 I'le near greet for that sir, while I have your love. 1714 Ramsay Elegy J. Cowper 1, I wairn ye a' to greet and drone. 1791 Burns ‘There'll Never be Peace’ iii, My seven braw sons for Iamie drew sword, And now I greet round their green beds in the yerd. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet let. xi, Dougal..neither grat not graned. 1889 Barrie Window in Thrums 174 ‘Leely’, said Jamie, ‘dinna greet, an' I'll never do't again’. 1893 Stevenson Catriona 109, I sat down and grat like a bairn. |
b. with cognate obj. To shed (tears).
| c 1300 Havelok 285 For hire was mani a ter i-groten. 1450–70 Golagros & Gaw. 1141 The king..Grat mony salt tere. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xxviii. 331 The teres thou grett when thou rasid lazare. 1719 Ramsay Richy & Sandy 43 Hing down ye'r heads, ye hills, greet out ye'r springs. |
† 2. trans. To weep for, lament, bewail. Obs.
| a 900 Cynewulf Crist 1571 Hu þa wom-sceaþan hyra ealdᵹestreon..sare greten. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 15613 For þyng þat þou hast greten sore. a 1340 Hampole Psalter lx. 2 Whils i grete my syn. |
† 3. intr. To cry or call out in supplication or in anger. Const. after, on, upon, till, to. Obs.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3659 He greten up-on moysen, And he to god made his bi-men. a 1300 Cursor M. 15624 To-quils he lai in orisun, he wit [Fairf. til, Trin. on] his fader grett. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 148, I am Thomas ȝour hope, to whom ȝe crie & grete. c 1410 Lydg. Life Our Lady xvi. (? 1484) c iv, Where as she sat in hir oratorye With herte ententyf..Grete to god and all hir ful mynde. 1513 Douglas æneis viii. Prol. 34 The gud wyffe gruling befor God gretis eftir grace. |
† 4. To beseech (a person) with tears. Obs. rare.
| 1562 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) i, 224 Greting grit God to grant thy Grace gude ȝeir. |
▪ V. greet
obs. and dial. form of grit.
▪ VI. greet(e
obs. form of great a.