groining 
groining (groi'ning), . [Verbal n. off/rain 1 , t).] 
In arch. : (<i) Any system of vaulting implying 
the intersection at any angle of simple vaults. 
The windows [of the Cathedral of OrvietoJ arc small and 
narrow, the columns round, and the roof displays none of 
that intricate groining we find in English churches. 
J. A. Symonds, Italy and Greece, p. 102. 
(6) The general scheme or plan of the groins 
in such a system of vaulting. (c) Same as 
groin 1 , 2 Underpitch groining, a system of vaulting 
employed when the main vault of a groined roof is high- 
er thau the. transverse intersecting vaults. St. George's 
Chapel, Windsor, England, furnishes an excellent example 
of this system. In England often called Welsh groining. 
groin-point (groin'point), . A workmen's 
term for the arris or line of intersection of two 
vaults where there are no ribs. 
groin-rib (groin'rib), n. In vaulting, a main 
rib masking a groin, or serving to support the 
groin; an ogive or are ogive. See groin 1 , n., 2, 
and arc ogive, under arc 1 . 
Grolier design. A style of decoration in book- 
binding, consisting of bold lines of gold, curi- 
ously interlaced in geometrical forms, and in- 
termixed with delicate leaves and sprays. Jean 
Grolier de Servier (1479-1665). from whom this style was 
named, was a French bibliophile eminent for his bindings. 
Matthew's "Guttenberg" Bible [bound] in dark brown 
levant, with a pure Grulur design, inlaid with dark blue. 
Paper World, XIII. 16. 
gromH, A Middle English variant of gram 1 
and grum. 
grom 2 t, See groom 1 . 
grom 3 (grom), n. [Perhaps a var. of crome 2 .] 
A forked stick used by thatchers for carrying 
bundles of straw. [Prov. Bug.] 
gromalt, . [For 'gromel, equiv. to gromet or 
gromer.] Same as gromet, 1. 
The groinals & pages to bee brought vp according to the 
laudable order and vse of the Sea, as well in learning of 
Nauigation, as in exercising of that which to them apper- 
taineth. Uakhiyt's Voyages, I. 227. 
grome 1 t, . See groom 1 . 
grome 2 t, See gram 1 . 
gromert, n. [Equiv. to gromet.~\ Same as grom- 
et, 1. 
gromet (grom'et or grum'et), n. [Also (dial.) 
grummet (def. 1), grommet (defs. 2, 3); < ME. 
"gromet, < OF. gromet, grommet, groumet, gour- 
met, a boy or young man in service, a serving- 
man, groom, a shopman, agent, broker, later 
esp., in the form gourmet, a wine-merchant's 
broker, a wine-taster (whence mod. F. gourmet, 
a wine-taster, an epicure : see gourmet) (= Sp. 
Pg. grumete, a ship-boy, Pg. dial, grometo, a 
serving-man), dim. of "grome, gramme, gourme, 
a serving-man, a groom: see groom 1 . The me- 
chanical senses (defs. 2, 3) seem to be trans- 
ferred from the lit. sense, perhaps first in naut. 
usage ; at. jack as the name of various mechani- 
cal devices, taken from Jack, a familiar general 
name for a boy or man, used esp. among sailors 
and workmen.] If. A boy or young man in 
service ; an apprentice ; a ship-boy. 
Hasting shall flnde 21. ships, in euery ship 21. men, and 
a Garcion, or Boy, which is called a Gromet. 
Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 19. 
2. Naut., a ring of rope used for various pur- 
poses, made from a strand 
laid three times round its 
own central part formed in- 
to a loop of the desired size. 
3. In macfi., a ring or eye- 
let of metal, etc. [In the last 
two senses also grommet.'} 
Shot-gromet, a gromet used to 
hold shot and prevent it from roll- 
ing in time of action. 
gromet-iront (grom'et-i"ern), n. A toggle-iron : 
so called when a gromet was used to hold the 
toggle in position when struck into a whale. 
Also grommet-iron. 
gromet-wad (grom'et-wod), . A gun-wad 
made of a ring of rope, used for round shot in 
smooth-bore guns. 
Gromia (gro'mi-a), n. [NL.] The typical ge- 
nus of the family (iromiidie. G. ooiformis is a char- 
acteristic imperforate foraminifer of a group known as 
Protoplaita filosa, having the body inclosed in a simple 
test, and the pseudopodia restricted to a small part of the 
surface. 
The shell is thin, chitinous, colorless or yellowish, . . . 
a high power of the microscope shows an incessant stream- 
ing of granules along the branching, anastomosing shreds 
of sarcode. The sarcodous extensions of Gromia anasto- 
mose more freely than is usuul among the Protoplasta Fi- 
losa, resembling more nearly the Foraminifera in this re- 
spect, and the contractile vesicle is near the mouth of the 
shell. Stand. Nat. Hist., I. 14. 
Gromiidas (gro-mi'i-de), n. j>l. [NL., < Gromia 
+ -Mo;.] A family of rhizopods with the test 
chitinous, smooth or incrusted with foreign 
166 
8631 
bodies, imperforate, with a pseudopodial aper- 
ture at one extremity or both, and pseudopo- 
dia long, brandling, and anastomosing. Also 
Groin ida'. 
Gromiidea (gro-mi-id'e-a), n. pi. [NL., < Gro- 
mia + -idea.] The Gromiida; regarded as an 
order of imperforate foraminifers having the 
test simply saccular, with an opening at one or 
at each end for the protrusion of long, filamen- 
tous, branched, and netted pseudopodia. It in- 
cludes both marine and fresh-water forms, divided into 
M<iit'i.vt'jiiiiiui, with one opening, and Arnphistoiiiina, with 
two openings. 
grommet, w. See gromet. 
gromwell (grom'wel), n. [The w is intrusive ; 
more correctly, as in earlier use, grommel, grum- 
mel, gromel, gromil, < ME. gromil, gromyl, grom- 
ylle, gromalt, gromely, gromaly, ijromylyoun, < 
OF. gremil, F. t/remil (E. graymill, gray-millet, 
q. v.); supposed by some to be < L. granum 
milii, ' grain of millet,' on account of its grains.] 
The common name for the plant Lithospermum 
officinale. Corn-grommell la L. arvense. False gromwell 
is the name of species of Onosmodium. These are all bo- 
raginaceous plants with smooth stony fruits. 
Yellow bent spikes of the gromwell. 
S. Judd, Margare^ L 16. 
grondt. An obsolete preterit of grind. 
gronet, v. and . An obsolete form of groan. 
Gronias (gro'ni-as), n. [NL., < Gr. ypuvti, a cav- 
ern, grot, lit. (sc. trirpa) an eaten-out rock, fern, 
of ypurvof, eaten out, < ypdeiv, gnaw.] A genus of 
catfishes, of the family Siluridce and subfamily 
IctallirilUB. G. nigrilabrir, a small blind fish found in 
caves in the eastern United States, is the only known repre- 
sentative of the genus. Cope, 1864. 
grontet. Anobsoletepreteritof^ronw. Chaucer. 
groom 1 (grom), . [Early mod. E. also groome, 
grome; < ME. grom, grome, a boy, youth, a serv- 
ing-man, = MD. grom, a boy (Kilian), = Icel. 
gromr (Jonsson), gromr (Egilsson), a man, a 
servant (homuncio) (not in Cleasby and Vigfus- 
son); hence, from Tent., OF. gramme, gourme, 
serving-man, a groom (gourme de chambre, a 
groom of the chamber), > dim. gromet, > E. grom- 
et, q. v. ; ulterior origin uncertain. It is com- 
monly supposed that groom 1 , ME. grome, is the 
same as goonfi, ME. gome, < AS. guma, a man, 
with intrusive r, as in hoarse, cartridge, par- 
tridge, culprit, vagrant, etc. In bridegroom, early 
mod. E. bridegrome, the second element is un- 
questionably for earlier goom, gome, being ap- 
par. a conformation to the word groom 1 ; but 
this does not prove the identity of the simple 
words. ME. gome means ' man ' in an elevated 
sense, not implying subordination (except as 
it may be that of a soldier to his chief), and is 
chiefly, in AS. wholly, confined to poetry, while 
ME. grome always means 'boy,' or else 'man' 
as a servant or menial, and is frequent in prose 
as well as in poetry; moreover, the two words 
occur in the same piece with these differing 
senses. Groom is therefore to be taken as an 
independent word.] If. A boy; a youth; a 
young man. 
Ich am nou no groin, 
Ich am wel waxen. flttvelok, 1. 790. 
She [Coveitise] maketh false pleadoures, 
That with hir termes and hir domes 
Doon maydens, children, and eek gromeg 
Her heritage to forgo. Rom. of the Rose, 1. 200. 
2. A boy or man in service ; a personal atten- 
dant; a page; a serving-man. [Obsolete or 
archaic in this general sense.] 
At thilke wofull day of drede. 
Where every man shall take his dome, 
AIs well the maister as the grome. 
Gower, Conf. Amant, I. 274. 
I did but wait upon her like a groom. 
Beau, and Fl., King and No King, v. 1. 
There was not a groom about that castle 
But got a gown of green. 
ChUde Vyet (Child's Ballads, II. 76). 
Specifically 3. A boy or man who has the 
charge of horses ; one who takes care of the 
horses or the stable. 
Huo . . . thet mest [most] heth hors [horses], mest him 
fayleth gromes and stablen. 
Ayenuite of I nay t (E. E. T. S.), p. 210. 
The tedious pomp that waits 
On princes, when their rich retinue long 
Of horses led, and grooms besmeared with gold, 
Dazzles the crowd. Milton, P. L., v. 356. 
4. One of several officers in the English royal 
household: as, groom of the stole; groom of the 
chamber. 
Make a mean gentleman a groom ; a yeoman, or a poor 
beggar, lord president. Lattmer, Sermon of the Plough. 
As soon as the groom of the chambers had withdrawn. 
Bulwer, My Novel, III. 335. 
5. See groom-. 
groove 
groom 1 (groin), r. t. [< groom 1 , n., 3.] To tend 
or care for, as a horse ; curry, feed, etc. (a 
horse): sometimes, in horse slang, used with 
reference to a person. 
They [the steeds], ... so long 
By bandits grooin'd, prick'd their light ears. 
Tennyson, Ueraint. 
The Honourable Bob Staples daily repeats ... his fa- 
vourite original remark that she is the bv&t-groowed wo- 
man in the whole stud. Dickens, Bleak House, xxviii. 
groom- (grimi), n. [In this use only modern, 
and taken from bridegroom.] A man newly 
married, or about to be married ; a bridegroom : 
the correlative of briili: 
The brides are waked, their grooms are drest. 
All Rhodes is summoned to the nuptial feast. 
Dryden, Cym. and Iph., 1. 540. 
Drinking health to bride and groom., 
We wish them store of happy days. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, Conclusion. 
groom-grubber (grom'grub'er), it. Formerly, 
in England, an officer of the royal household 
whose duty itwastosee that the barrels brought 
into the cellar were tight and full, and to draw 
out the lees from casks that were nearly empty. 
Halliwell. 
groomlet (grom'let), . [< groom 1 + -let.] A 
small groom. T. Hook. [Humorous.] 
groom-porter (grom'p6r"ter), . Formerly, 
in England, an officer of the royal household 
whose business was to see the king's lodging 
furnished with tables, chairs, stools, and firing, 
also to provide cards, dice, etc., and to decide 
disputes over games. He was allowed to keep an 
open gaming-table at Christmas. The office was abolished 
in the reign of George III. Nares. 
I saw deep and prodigious gaming at the groom-itorter's ; 
vast heaps of gold squandered away in a vain and profuse 
manner. Evelyn, Diary, Jan. 8, 1668. 
groomsman (gromz ' man), n. ; pi. groomsmen 
(-men). [< groom's, poss. of groonft, + man.] 
One who acts as attendant on a bridegroom at 
his marriage. 
Three of the stories turn on a curious idea of the sacred 
character of godfathers and godmothers , . . and of grooms- 
men and bridesmaids. N. A. Rec., CXXIII. 54. 
groop (grop), n. [Also gi'ujie, group, grube; < 
ME. grope, grupe, groupe, a trench, a drain from 
a cow-stall, = OFries. grope = D. groep, a 
trench, ditch, moat, = MLtJ. grope, a puddle, 
a drain from a cow-stall, = Norw. grop, a 
groove, cavity, hollow, = Sw. grop, a pit, ditch, 
hole. Cf. grip 2 , a ditch, etc.] 1. A trench; a 
drain; particularly, a trench or hollow behind 
the stalls of cows or horses for receiving their 
dung and urine. 2. A pen for cattle. [North. 
Eng. and Scotch in both uses.] 
groopt (grop), v. i. [Formerly also grope, groupe, 
growpc; < groop, .] To make a channel or 
groove ; form grooves. 
I growpe, sculpe, or suche as coulde grave, groupe, or 
carve. Palsgrave. 
grooper, . See grouper. 
grooping-iront, n. [ME. gropiiig-iren.] A tool 
for forming grooves ; a gouge. 
The groping-iren than spake he, 
Compas, who hath grevyd the ? 
.M.S. Aihmole 61. (Halliii'ell.) 
groot (grot), w. The Dutch form of groat. 
groove (grov), H. [< ME. grofe (rare), a pit 
(AS. 'grof not found), = OD. grot re, a furrow, 
D. groeve, groef, a channel, groove, furrow, a 
grave, = OHG. gruoba, MHG. gruobe, G. grube, 
a pit, hole, cavity, ditch, grave, = Icel. grof, a 
pit (hiiakka-grof, the pit in the back of the 
neck), = Dan. grubc = Sw. grufva = Goth, groba, 
a pit, hole, < Goth, graban, AS. grafan (pret. 
grof), E. grave 1 , etc., dig: see grave 1 , and cf. 
gravel and grove. ] 1 . A pit or hole in the ground ; 
specifically, in mining, a shaft or pit sunk into 
the earth. [Prov. Eng.] 
Robert Rutter was hurt in a groove. 
Chron. Mirab., p. 81. 
2. A furrow or long hollow, such as is cut by a 
tool ; a rut or furrow, such as is formed in the 
ground or in a rock by the action of water; a 
channel, usually an elongated narrow channel, 
formed by any agency. 
The lightning struck a large pitch-pine across the pond, 
making a very conspicuous and perfectly regular spiral 
groom from top to bottom. 1 horeau, Walden, p. 144. 
Specifically 3. A long and regular incision 
cut by a tool, or a narrow channel formed in 
any way (as in a part of a construction), for 
something (as another part) to fit into or move 
in. 
When she gain'd her castle, upsprang the bridge, 
Down rang the grate of iron thro' the groove. 
Tennyson, Pelleas and Ettarre. 
