Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

GROUNDLESSNESS — GUELF

GROUNDLESSNESS, n. Want of just cause, reason or authority for support.

GROUNDLING, n. A fish that keeps at the bottom of the water; hence, a low vulgar person.

GROUNDLY, adv. Upon principles; solidly. [A bad word and not used.]

GROUND-NUT, n. A plant, the Arachis, a native of South America.

GROUND-OAK, n. A sapling of oak.

GROUND-PINE, n. A plant, a species of Teucrium or germander; said to be so called from its resinous smell.

GROUND-PLATE, n. In architecture, the ground-plates are the outermost pieces of timber lying on or near the ground, framed into one another with mortises and tenons.

GROUND-PLOT, n. The ground on which a building is placed.

1. The ichnography of a building.

GROUND-RENT, n. Rent paid for the privilege of building on another man’s land.

GROUND-ROOM, n. A room on the ground; a lower room.

GROUNDSEL, n. A plant of the genus Senecio, of several species.

GROUNDSEL, GROUND-SILL, n. [L. sella, that which is set.]

The timber of a building which lies next to the ground; commonly called a sill.

GROUND-TACKLE, n. In ships, the ropes and furniture belonging to anchors.

GROUNDWORK, n. The work which forms the foundation or support of any thing; the basis; the fundamentals.

1. The ground; that to which the rest are additional.

2. First principle; original reason.

GROUP, GROOP, n.

1. A cluster, crowd or throng; an assemblage, either of persons or things; a number collected without any regular form or arrangement; as a group of men or of trees; a group of isles.

2. In painting and sculpture, an assemblage of two or more figures of men, beasts or other things which have some relation to each other.

GROUP, GROOP, v.t. To form a group; to bring or place together in a cluster or knot; to form an assemblage.

The difficulty lies in drawing and disposing, or as the painters term it, in grouping such a multitude of different objects.

GROUPED, GROOPED, pp. Formed or placed in a crowd.

GROUPING, GROOPING, ppr. Bringing together in a cluster or assemblage.

GROUPING, n. The art of composing or combining the objects of a picture or piece of sculpture.

GROUSE, n. grous. A heath-cock or cock of the wood, a fowl of the genus Tetrao. The name is given to several species, forming a particular division of the genus; such as the black game, the red game, the ptarmigan, the ruffed grouse, etc.

GROUT, n. Coarse meal; pollard.

1. A kind of wild apple.

2. A thin coarse mortar.

3. That which purges off.

1. In gardening, a small wood or cluster of trees with a shaded avenue, or a wood impervious to the rays of the sun. A grove is either open or close; open, when consisting of large trees whose branches shade the ground below; close, when consisting of trees and underwood, which defend the avenues from the rays of the sun and from violent winds.

2. A wood of small extent. In America, the word is applied to a wood of natural growth in the field, as well as to planted trees in a garden, but only to a wood of small extent and not to a forest.

3. Something resembling a wood or trees in a wood.

Tall groves of masts arose in beauteous pride.

GROVEL, v.i. grov’l.

1. To creep on the earth, or with the face to the ground; to lie prone, or move with the body prostrate on the earth; to act in a prostrate posture.

Gaze on and grovel on thy face.

To creep and grovel on the ground.

2. To be low or mean; a groveling sense; groveling thoughts.

GROVELER, n. One who grovels; an abject wretch.

GROVELING, ppr. Creeping; moving on the ground.

1. Mean; without dignity or elevation.

GROVY, a. Pertaining to a grove; frequenting groves.

GROW, v.i. pret. grew; pp. grown. [L. cresco.]

1. To enlarge in bulk or stature, by a natural, imperceptible addition of matter, through ducts and secreting organs, as animal and vegetable bodies; to vegetate as plants, or to be augmented by natural process, as animals. Thus, a plant grows from a seed to a shrub or tree, and a human being grows from a fetus to a man.

He causeth the grass to grow for cattle. Psalm 104:14.

2. To be produced by vegetation; as, wheat grows in most parts of the world; rice grows only in warm climates.

3. To increase; to be augmented; to wax; as, a body grows larger by inflation or distension; intemperance is a growing evil.

4. To advance; to improve; to make progress; as, to grow in grace, in knowledge, in piety. The young man is growing in reputation.

5. To advance; to extend. His reputation is growing.

6. To come by degrees; to become; to reach any state; as, he grows more skillful, or more prudent. Let not vice grow to a habit, or into a habit.

7. To come forward; to advance. [Not much used.]

Winter began to grow fast on.

8. To be changed from one state to another; to become; as, to grow pale; to grow poor; to grow rich.

9. To proceed, as from a cause or reason. Lax morals may grow from errors in opinion.

10. To accrue; to come.

Why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings. Ezra 4:22.

11. To swell; to increase; as, the wind grew to a tempest.

To grow out of, to issue from; as plants from the soil, or as a branch from the main stem.

These wars have grown out of commercial considerations.

To grow up, to arrive at manhood, or to advance to full stature or maturity.

To grow up,

To grow together, To close and adhere; to become united by growth; as flesh or the bark of a tree severed.

Grow, signifies properly to shoot out, to enlarge; but it is often used to denote a passing from one state to another, and from greater to less.

Marriages grow less frequent.

[To grow less, is an abuse of this word; the phrase should be to become less.]

GROW, v.t. To produce; to raise; as, a farmer grows large quantities of wheat. [This is a modern abusive use of grow, but prevalent in Great Britain, and the British use begins to be imitated in America. Until within a few years, we never heard grow used as a transitive verb in New England, and the ear revolts at the practice.]

GROWER, n. One who grows; that which increases.

1. In English use, one who raises or produces.

GROWING, ppr. Increasing; advancing in size or extent; becoming; accruing; swelling; thriving.

GROWL, v.i. [Gr. a grunting.] To murmur or snarl, as a dog; to utter an angry, grumbling sound.

GROWL, v.t. To express by growling.

GROWL, n. The murmur of a cross dog.

GROWLER, n. A snarling cur; a grumbler.

GROWLING, ppr. Grumbling; snarling.

GROWN, pp. of grow. Advanced; increased in growth.

1. Having arrived at full size or stature; as a grown woman.

Grown over, covered by the growth of any thing; overgrown.

GROWSE, v.i. To shiver; to have chills. [Not used.]

GROWTH, n. The gradual increase of animal and vegetable bodies; the process of springing from a germ, seed or root, and proceeding to full size, by the addition of matter, through ducts and secretory vessels. In plants, vegetation. We speak of slow growth and rapid growth; of early growth; late growth and full growth.

1. Product; produce; that which has grown; as a fine growth of wood.

2. Production; any thing produced; as a poem of English growth.

3. Increase in number, bulk or frequency.

4. Increase in extent or prevalence; as the growth of trade; the growth of vice.

5. Advancement; progress; improvement; as growth in grace or piety.

GROWTHEAD, GROWTNOL, n.

1. A kind of fish.

2. A lazy person; a lubber.

GRUB, v.i. To dig; to be occupied in digging.

GRUB, v.t. To dig; mostly followed by up. To grub up, is to dig up by the roots with an instrument; to root out by digging, or throwing out the soil; as, to grub up trees, rushes or sedge.

GRUB, n. [from the Verb.] A small worm; particularly, a hexapod or six-footed worm, produced from the egg of the beetle, which is transformed into a winged insect.

1. A short thick man; a dwarf, in contempt.

GRUBBER, n. One who grubs up shrubs, etc.

GRUBBING-HOE, n. An instrument for digging up trees, shrubs, etc. by the roots; a mattoc; called also a grub-ax.

GRUBBLE, v.i. To feel in the dark; to grovel. [Not much used.]

GRUBSTREET, n. Originally, the name of a street near Moorfields, in London, much inhabited by mean writers; hence applied to mean writings; as a Grubstreet poem.

GRUDGE, v.t. [L. rugio.]

1. To be discontented at another’s enjoyments or advantages; to envy one the possession or happiness which we desire for ourselves.

‘Tis not in thee

To grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train.

I have often heard the presbyterians say, they did not grudge us our employments.

It is followed by two objects, but probably by ellipsis; as, grudge us for grudge to us.

2. To give or take unwillingly.

Nor grudge my cold embraces in the grave.

They have grudged those contributions, which have set our country at the head of all the governments of Europe.

GRUDGE, v.i. To murmur; to repine; to complain; as, to grudge or complain of injustice.

1. To be unwilling or reluctant. Not to serve your country.

2. To be envious.

Grudge not one against another. James 5:9.

3. To wish in secret. [Not used nor proper.]

4. To feel compunction; to grieve. [Not in use.]

GRUDGE, n. Sullen malice or malevolence; ill will; secret enmity; hatred; as an old grudge.

1. Unwillingness to benefit.

2. Remorse of conscience.

GRUDGEONS, n. plu. Coarse meal. [Not in use.]

GRUDGER, n. One that grudges; a murmurer.

GRUDGING, pp. Envying; being uneasy at another’s possession of something which we have a desire to possess.

GRUDGING, n. Uneasiness at the possession of something by another.

1. Reluctance; also, a secret wish or desire.

He had a grudging still to be a knave.

2. A symptom of disease. [Not in use.]

GRUDGINGLY, adv. Unwillingly; with reluctance or discontent; as, to give grudgingly.

GRUEL, n. A kind of light food made by boiling meal in water. It is usually made of the meal of oats or maiz.

GRUFF, a. Of a rough or stern countenance; sour; surly; severe; rugged; harsh.

GRUFFLY, adv. Roughly; sternly; ruggedly; harshly.

--And gruffly looked the god.

GRUFFNESS, n. Roughness of countenance; sternness.

GRUM, a.

1. Morose; severe of countenance; sour; surly.

2. Low; deep in the throat; guttural; rumbling; as a grum voice.

GRUMBLE, v.i. [Heb. to roar, murmur, thunder.]

1. To murmur with discontent; to utter a low voice by way of complaint.

L’Avare, not using half his store,

Still grumbles that he has no more.

2. To growl; to snarl; as a lion grumbling over his prey.

3. To rumble; to roar; to make a harsh and heavy sound; as grumbling thunder; a grumbling storm. [In this sense, rumble is generally used.]

GRUMBLER, n. One who grumbles or murmurs; one who complains; a discontented man.

GRUMBLING, ppr. Murmuring through discontent; rumbling; growling.

GRUMBLING, n. A murmuring through discontent; a rumbling.

GRUMBLINGLY, adv. With grumbling or complaint.

GRUME, n. [L. grumus.] A thick viscid consistence of a fluid; a clot, as of blood, etc.

GRUMLY, adv. Morosely; with a sullen countenance.

GRUMOUS, a. Thick; concreted; clotted; as grumous blood.

GRUMOUSNESS, n. A state of being clotted or concreted.

GRUNDSEL, n. [See Groundsel.]

GRUNT, v.i. [L. grunnio; Heb. to cry out, to murmur.]

To murmur like a hog; to utter a short groan or a deep guttural sound.

GRUNT, n. A deep guttural sound, as a hog.

GRUNTER, n. One that grunts.

1. A fish of the gurnard king.

GRUNTING, ppr. Uttering the murmuring or guttural sound of swine or other animals.

GRUNTING, n. The guttural sound of swine and other animals.

GRUNTLE, v.i. To grunt. [Not much used.]

GRUNTLING, n. A young hog.

GRUTCH, for grudge, is now vulgar, and not to be used.

GRY, n. A measure containing one tenth of a line.

1. Any thing very small or of little value. [Not much used.]

GRYPHITE, n. [L. gryphites; Gr. hooked.]

Crowstone, an oblong fossil shell, narrow at the head, and wider towards the extremity, where it ends in a circular limb; the head or beak is very hooked.

GUAIACUM, n. gua’cum. Lignum vitae, or pock wood; a tree produced in the warm climates of America. The wood is very hard, ponderous and resinous. The resin of this tree, or gum guaiacum, is of a greenish cast, and much used in medicine as a stimulant.

GUANA, n. A species of lizard, found in the warmer parts of America.

GUANACO, n. The lama, or camel of South America, in a wild state.

GUANO, n. A substance found on many isles in the Pacific, which are frequented by fowls; used as a manure.

GUARA, n. A bird of Brazil, the Tantalus ruber, about the size of a spoonbill. When first hatched, it is black; it afterward changes to gray, and then to vivid red.

GUARANTEE, n. A warrantor. [See Guaranty, the noun.]

GUARANTIED, pp. gar’antied. Warranted. [See the Verb.]

GUARANTOR, n. gar’antor. A warrantor; one who engages to see that the stipulations of another are performed; also, one who engages to secure another in any right or possession.

GUARANTY, v.t. gar’anty. [Eng. to ward; allied to warren, etc. See Warrant.]

1. To warrant; to make sure; to undertake or engage that another person shall perform what he has stipulated; to oblige one’s self to see that another’s engagements are performed; to secure the performance of; as, to guaranty the execution of a treaty.

2. To undertake to secure to another, at all events, as claims, rights or possessions. Thus in the treaty of 1778, France guarantied to the United States their liberty, sovereignty and independence, and their possessions; and the United States guarantied to France its possessions in America.

The United States shall guaranty to every state in the Union a republican form of government.

3. To indemnify; to save harmless.

[Note. This verb, whether written guaranty or guarantee, forms an awkward participle of the present tense; and we cannot relish either guarantying or guaranteeing. With the accent on the first syllable, as now pronounced, it seems expedient to drop the y in the participle, and write guaranting.]

GUARANTY, n.

1. An undertaking or engagement by a third person or party, that the stipulations of a treaty shall be observed by the contracting parties or by one of them; an undertaking that the engagement or promise of another shall be performed.

2. One who binds himself to see the stipulations of another performed; written also guarantee.

GUARD, v.t. gard. [L. verus; wahren, to keep, to last, to hold out; bewahren, to keep or preserve; bewahren, to verify, to confirm; Eng. ware, aware;]

1. To secure against injury, loss or attack; to protect; to defend; to keep in safety. We guard a city by walls and forts. A harbor is guarded by ships, booms or batteries. Innocence should be guarded by prudence and piety. Let observation and experience guard us against temptations to vice.

2. To secure against objections or the attacks of malevolence.

Homer has guarded every circumstance with caution.

3. To accompany and protect; to accompany for protection; as, to guard a general on a journey; to guard the baggage of an army.

4. To adorn with lists, laces or ornaments.

5. To gird; to fasten by binding.

GUARD, v.i. To watch by way of caution or defense; to be cautions; to be in a state of defense or safety. Guard against mistakes, or against temptations.

GUARD, n. [Eng. ward.]

1. Defense; preservation or security against injury, loss or attack.

2. That which secures against attack or injury; that which defends. Modesty is the guard of innocence.

3. A man or body of men occupied in preserving a person or place from attack or injury; he or they whose business is to defend, or to prevent attack or surprise. Kings have their guards to secure their persons. Joseph was sold to Potiphar, a captain of Pharaoh’s guard.

4. A state of caution or vigilance; or the act of observing what passes in order to prevent surprise or attack; care; attention; watch; heed. Be on your guard. Temerity puts a man off his guard.

5. That which secures against objections or censure; caution of expression.

They have expressed themselves with as few guards and restrictions as I.

6. Part of the hilt of a sword, which protects the hand.

7. In fencing, a posture of defense.

8. An ornamental lace, hem or boarder.

Advanced guard,

Van guard, In military affairs, a body of troops, either horse or foot, that march before an army or division, to prevent surprise, or give notice of danger.

Rear guard, a body of troops that march in the rear of an army or division, for its protection.

Life guard, a body of select troops, whose duty is to defend the person of a prince or other officer.

GUARD-BOAT, n. A boat appointed to row the rounds among ships of war in a harbor, to observe that their officers keep a good look-out.

GUARD-CHAMBER, n. A guard-room. 1 Kings 14:28.

GUARD-ROOM, n. A room for the accommodation of guards.

GUARD-SHIP, n. A vessel of war appointed to superintend the marine affairs in a harbor or river, and to receive impressed seamen.

GUARDABLE, a. That may be protected.

GUARDAGE, n. Wardship.

GUARDANT, a. Acting as guardian.

1. In heraldry, having the face turned toward the spectator.

GUARDED, pp. Defended; protected; accompanied by a guard; provided with means of defense.

1. Cautions; circumspect. He was guarded in his expressions.

2. Framed or uttered with caution; as, his expressions were guarded.

GUARDEDLY, adv. With circumspection.

GUARDEDNESS, n. Caution; circumspection.

GUARDER, n. One that guards.

GUARDFUL, a. Wary; cautious.

GUARDIAN, n.

1. A warden; one who guards, preserves or secures; one to whom any thing is committed for preservation from injury.

2. In law, one who is chosen or appointed to take charge of the estate and education of an orphan who is a minor, or of any person who is not of sufficient discretion to manage his own concerns. The person committed to the care of a guardian is called his ward.

Guardian of the spiritualities, the person to whom the spiritual jurisdiction of a diocese is entrusted, during the vacancy of the see.

GUARDIAN, a. Protection; performing the office of a protector; as a guardian angel; guardian care.

GUARDIANESS, n. A female guardian. [Not in use.]

GUARDIANSHIP, n. The office of a guardian; protection; care; watch.

GUARDING, ppr. Defending; protecting; securing; attending for protection.

GUARDLESS, a. Without a guard or defense.

GUARDSHIP, n. Care; protection. [Little used.]

GUARISH, v.t. To heal.

GUAVA, n. An American tree, and its fruit, of the genus Psidium. It is of two species, or rather varieties, the pyriferum or white guava, and pomiferum or red guava. The fruit or berry is large and oval-shaped, like a pomegranate, which it resembles in its astringent quality. The pulp is of an agreeable flavor, and of this fruit is made a delicious jelly.

GUBERNATE, v.t. [L. guberno.] To govern. [Not used.]

GUBERNATION, n. [L. gubernatio. See Govern.]

Government; rule; direction. [Little used.]

GUBERNATIVE, a. Governing.

GUBERNATORIAL, a. [L. gubernator.] Pertaining to government, or to a governor.

GUDGEON, n. gud’jin. A small fish of the genus Cyprinus, a fish easily caught, and hence,

1. A person easily cheated or ensnared.

2. A bait; allurement; something to be caught to a man’s disadvantage.

3. An iron pin on which a wheel turns.

Sea-gudgeon, the black goby or rock fish.