grin
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L14631 on Wikidata ↗verb
- form a big smile
- speak while grinning
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ɡɹɪn/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English grin, grinne, grine, from Old English grin (“snare, noose”), of uncertain origin, but probably from the merger of Proto-West Germanic *garni and *garnī (“intestine”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *garniz, *garnō (“guts, intestine”). Related to English yarn.
- A snare; a gin.
verb
Etymology: From Middle English grinnen, from Old English grennian, from Proto-West Germanic *grannjōn, from Proto-Germanic *granjōną. Related to groan. Compare to Middle High German grennen (“to mutter, complain”) and Danish grine (“to show one's teeth, to laugh”)
- To smile, parting the lips so as to show the teeth.
“Why do you grin? Did I say something funny?”
“‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough! […] What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything? A bootee or a bit of embroidery or anything at all?’”
- To express by grinning.
“She grinned pleasure at his embarrassment.”
“Grinned horrible a ghastly smile.”
- To show the teeth, like a snarling dog.
“The pangs of death do make him grin.”
“They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.”
- To grin as part of producing a particular facial expression, such as a smile or sneer.
“He grinned a broad smile when I told him the result.”
“He grinned a cruel sneer when I begged him to stop.”