groove 
The clearance grooves were made with a hollow curve. 
Joshua Ruse, Practical Machinist, p. 94. 
Especially (a) The sunken or plowed channel on the 
edge of a matched board, to receive the tongue, (fc) 
The spiral rifling of a gun. (c) In the wind-chest of an 
organ, one of the channels or passages Into which the 
wind is admitted by the pallets, and with which the pipes 
belonging to a given key are directly or indirectly con- 
nected. When a given key is struck, its pallet is opened, 
and the groove filled with compressed air. Whether all 
the pipes connected with the groove are Bounded or not 
depends on how many stops are drawn. Also grow. 
4. In anat. and zool., a natural furrow or longi- 
tudinal hollow or impression, especially one 
which is destined to receive one of the organs 
in repose : as, the antennal groove ; the rostral 
groove in the Bhynchopliora, etc. 5. Figura- 
tively, a fixed routine j a narrow, unchanging 
course ; a rut : as, life is apt to run in a groove; 
a groove of thought or of action Ambulacral, 
anterolateral, basilar, bicipital, carotid, cervical, 
ciliated, digastric, esophageal, hypobranchial, me- 
dullary, etc., groove. See the adjectives. 
groove (grov), v. t. ; pret. and pp. grooved, ppr. 
grooving. [= D. groeven = MHO. gruoben = 
ODan. gruve; from the noun.] 1. To cut or 
make a groove or channel in ; furrow. 
One letter still another locks, 
Each groov'd and dovetall'd like a box. 
Swift, Answer to T. Sheridan. 
2. To form as or fix in a groove ; make by cut- 
ting a groove or grooves. 
High-pitched Imagination and vivid emotion tend . . . 
to groove for themselves channels of language which are 
peculiar and unique. 
J. C. Shairp, Aspects of Poetry, p. 128. 
The glacier moves silently, . . . grooving the record 
of its being on the world itself. 
The Centurti, XXVIII. 146. 
grooved (grovd), p. a. Having a groove or 
grooves; channeled; furrowed. 
The aperture [is] grooved at the margin. 
Pennant, Brit. Zool., The Wreath Shell. 
A poly-grooved sporting carbine that formerly belonged 
to Napoleon I. W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 74. 
Specifically (a) In bot., marked with longitudinal ridges 
or f urrows : as, a grooved stem, (b) In entom., having a 
longitudinal channel or channels : as, a grooved sternum ; 
the beak of a weevil grooved for the reception of the anten- 
nse. Spiral-grooved guide. See gutdei. 
groove-fellow (grov'fel'6), n. One of a num- 
ber of men working a mine in partnership. 
[North. Eng.] 
groover (grd'ver), n. 1. One who or that which 
cuts a groove; an instrument for grooving. 
2f. A miner. [North. Eng.] 
groove-ram (grov'ram), n. A needle-makers' 
stamp for forming the groove in which the eye 
of a needle is cut. 
grooving (gro'ving), n. [Verbal n. of groove, 
.] A system of grooves; the act or method 
of making grooves, or of providing with grooves. 
In small-arms the hexagonal grooving is only suitable 
for muzzle-loaders, but breech-loading cannon are still 
made on the original principle. 
W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 113. 
groovy (gro'vi), a. [< groove + -yl.] 1. Of 
the nature of a groove ; resembling a groove. 
Its main purpose is to keep the surface of the ivory 
slightly lubricated, so that the rag may not hang to it and 
wear it into rings or groovij marks. 
0. Byrne, Artisan's Handbook, p. 367. 
Hence 2. Figuratively, having a tendency to 
routine ; inclined to a special or narrow course 
of thought or effort. [Colloq.] 
Men . . . who have not become groovy through too 
much poring over irrelevant learning. 
The Engineer, LXV. 24. 
grope (grop), .; pret. and pp. groped, ppr. grop- 
ing. [< ME. gropen, gropien, grapien, grasp, 
touch, feel, search, < AS. grdpian, grasp, handle, 
< grap, the grip of the fingers, grasp of the hand, 
< gripan (pret. grap), seize, grasp, gripe : see 
gripe 1 , the primitive, and cf . grasp, a derivative, 
of grope.] I. trans. If. To seize or touch with 
or as if with the hands ; grasp in any way ; f eel ; 
perceive. 
Al that the fynger gropeth graythly he grypeth, 
Bote yf that that he gropeth greue the paume. 
Piers Plowman (CX xx. 126. 
I have touched and tasted the Lord, and groped Him 
with hands, and yet unbelief has made all unsavoury. 
Rogers. 
Come, thou 'rt familiarly acquainted there, I grope that. 
Middleton and Dekker, Roaring Girl, ii. 1. 
2. To search out by the sense of touch alone ; 
find or ascertain by feeling about with the 
hands, as in the dark or when blind. 
2632 
My chamber door was touched, as if fingers had swept 
the panels in groping a way along the dark gallery out- 
side. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xv. 
Hence 3f. To pry into; make examination 
or trial of ; try; sound; test. 
But who so couthe in other thing him grope, 
Than hadde he spent al his philosophic. 
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 644. 
I rede we aske tham all on rowe, 
And grope tham how this game is begonne. 
York Plays, p. 188. 
How vigilant to grope men's thoughts, and to pick out 
somewhat whereof they might complain ! 
Sir J. Hayward. 
Call him hither, 'tis good groping such a gull. 
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Bevels, iv. 1. 
II. intrans. It. To use the hands ; handle. 
Hands they have and they shall not grope [authorized 
version, " They have hands, but they handle not "J. 
Wyclif, Ps. cxv. 7. 
2. To feel about with the hands in search of 
something, as in the dark or as a blind person ; 
feel one's way in darkness or obscurity; hence, 
to attempt anything blindly or tentatively. 
Go we groppe wher we graued hlr, 
If we fynde ou^te that faire one in fere nowe. 
York Plays, p. 489. 
We uropc for the wall like the blind. Isa. lix. I <>. 
While through the dark the shuddering sea 
Gropes for the ships. Lowell, Fancy's Casuistry. 
We :/!'>!' In the gray dusk, carrying each our poor little 
taper of selfish and painful wisdom. 
H. James, Jr., Pass. Pilgrim, p. 266. 
Specifically 3f. To feel for fish under the 
bank of a brook. /. Walton. See gropple. 
groper (gro'per), . One who gropes: one who 
feels his way, as in the dark, or searches tenta- 
tively. 
A groper after novelties In any wise do flye. 
Drant, tr. of Horace's Ep. to Lollius. 
gropingly (gro'ping-li), adv. By groping. 
He descended the one step, and advanced slowly and 
gropingl;/ toward the grass-plat Where was his daring 
stride now ? Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xixvii. 
gropple (grop'l), v. i. ; pret. and pp.groppled, 
ppr. groiipling. [Freq. of j/rope.J To grope. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
The boys . . . had gone off to the brook to gropple In 
the bank for cray-flsh. 
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, xxx. 
groroilite (gro-roi'lit), n. [< Groroi (see def.) 
+ (Jr. /U0of, stone: see -lite.'} A variety of 
earthy manganese or wad found near Groroi 
in the department of Mayenne, France, and 
occurring in roundish masses, of a brownish- 
black color with reddish-brown streaks. 
gros 1 !. Preterit of grise^. 
gros a (gro), a. and n. [F., thick, strong: see 
gross.'] I. a. Strong or decided in tint: ap- 
plied to pigment Gros bleu, dark blue ; especially, 
in English, the darkest blue used in porcelain-decoration, 
as at Sevres and elsewhere. 
II. . 1. A textile fabric stronger or heavier 
than others of the same material. 2. [F., < 
ML. grossus, a coin (defined 'groat,' but a dif- 
ferent word), lit. 'great 'or 'thick': see gross. 
Cf. groschen.] A coin of relatively large size: 
applied to (a) Silver coins of various kinds 
current in France in the thirteenth and follow- 
Kerene. 
But Strephon, cautious, never meant 
The bottom of the pan to grope. 
Swift. 
Obverse. R 
Gros Toumois of Louts IX., British Museum. (Size of the original.) 
ing centuries, as the gros tournois, gros blanc, 
gros d 1 argent, gros de rot. The gros tournois of 
Louis IX., here illustrated, weighs 63 grains. 
(6) A silver coin struck by Edward III. of Eng- 
land and by Edward the Black Prince for their 
French dominions Gros d'Afrlque, a fine and 
heavy silk having a glace or satin surface. Oros de 
Berlin, a fabric of cotton mixed with alpaca wool. It is 
made both plain and figured. Gros de Messine, gros 
de Naples, a stout silk fabric made of organzine. Gros 
des Indes, a silken textile fabric having a stripe woven 
transversely across the web. Gros de Suez, a thin ribbed 
silk used for linings. Bros de Tours, a heavy silk, usu- 
ally black, used for mourning-dresses Gros grain. See 
grosgrain. 
grosbeak (gros'bek), n. [< gross, large, thick, + 
beak 1 , after F. grosbec, grosbeak.] A bird hav- 
ing a notably large, heavy, or turgid bill : usu- 
ally a general and indefinite name of birds of 
gross 
the family FringillirtfE : in the plural loosely 
synonymous with the nominal subfamily Cocco- 
tltr<tt(yti)i(i'. Among familiar examples may be noted the 
hawfinch or hawthorn-grosbeak, Coccothraustes mlgaris, 
and the greenfinch or green grosbeak, Ligurinus chloric, 
both of Europe. (See cut under hawfinch.) The pine- 
grosbeak. Pinicola enucleator, is common to both Europe 
and America. Peculiar to the latter country are the even- 
ing grosbeak, Hesperophona vexpertina ; the blue gros- 
beak, Guiraca ccerulea ; the rose-breasted grosbeak, Za- 
melodia (or Habia) ludovicutna ; the black-headed gros- 
beak, Z. (or H.) melanocephala; and the cardinal or scar- 
let grosbeak, or cardinal-bird, Cardinal virginianus. 
(See cut under Cardinalia.) A few large-billed conirostral 
birds not of the family Fringillidce receive the same name, 
as the grenadier, an African weaver-bird, and some of the 
thick-billed American tanagers, indicating a former very 
extensive use of grosbeak as an English book-name of birds 
of the Linnean genus Loxia in a* wide sense. Less fre- 
quently written grossbeak. 
He thought our cardinal grosbeak, which he called the 
Virginia nightingale, as fine a whistler as the nightingale 
herself. The Century, XXIX. 778. 
groschen (gro'shen), n. [G., < MHG. grosclie, 
earlier and prop, grosse, also gros, < ML. grossus, 
a coin so called: 
see gross, gros. 
Cf. grosset.'] A 
small silver coin 
of various kinds 
current in Ger- 
many from the 
fourteenth oen- Obvene. 
tury to the pres- ^rosche-f 
ent time. Some 
specimens are distinguished as silbergrovchen, kaisergro- 
schen, mariengroschen. The modern groschen is worth 
about 2 cents. 
groser (gro'ser), n. [North. E. and Sc., in pi. 
grosers, Sc. also grozer, grozzer, grosert, gros- 
sart, groset, grozet, also grozle, grozzle, in some 
places grizzle, a gooseberry; various alterations 
of ME. 'grosel (not recorded, but cf. ME. gro- 
siler, below), < OF. groselle, groiselle, groisele, a 
gooseberry, F. groseille, a currant, > OF. gro- 
selier, groiselier (> ME. grosiler), a gooseberry- 
bush, F. groseillier, a currant-bush, gooseberry- 
bush (cf. Ir. groisaid, Gael, grmseid, a goose- 
berry, Ir. grosair, a gooseberry-bush, W. grwys, 
a wild gooseberry, appar. of OF. origin). The 
OF. groisele is in form a dim., perhaps < MHG. 
krus, G. kraus, curling, crisped (= p. Tiroes = 
Sw. krus (in comp.), crisp, curled, frizzled: see 
curl, cruller), > G. krausbeere, krauselbeere, a 
cranberry, rough gooseberry, = D. kntisbezie, 
as if 'crossberry' (for "kroesbezif), = Sw. krus- 
bar, a gooseberry; in reference to the short, 
crisp, curling hairs upon the rougher kinds of 
the fruit. The ML. grossula, a gooseberry, gros- 
sularia, a gooseberry-bush, are based on the OF. 
forms. It has been supposed that E. gooseberry 
is, in its first syllable, also of OF. origin : see 
gooseberry.] A gooseberry. 
George Gordoune being cited before the session of Rynie 
for prophaneing the Sabbath, by gathering grosers in tyme 
of sermon, . . . appealed to the Presbyterie. 
Presbytery Book of Strathbogie (1636), p. 9. (Jamieson.) 
grosert, n. Same as groser. 
grosgrain (gro'gran), n. [F., < gros, thick, + 
grain, grain: see gross and grain 1 , and cf. gro- 
gram.'] A stout corded silk stuff, not very lus- 
trous, and one of the most durable of silk fab- 
rics. 
gross (gros), a. and n. [< OF. gros, m., grosse, 
t., = Pr. gros = Sp. grueso = Pg. grosso = It. 
grosso, great, big, thick, gross, < LL. grossus, 
thick (of diameter, depth, etc.), ML. great, big, 
a different word from L. crassus, solid, thick, 
dense, fat, gross, etc., of which it has been sup- 
posed to be a corruption. Hence ult. grocer, 
engross, etc., gros,groschen,etc.~] I. a. 1. Great; 
large; big; bulky. 
Child Noryce he came off the tree, 
His mother to take off the horse : 
"Och alace, alace," says Child Noryce, 
"My mother was ne'er so gross.' 
Child Noryce (Child's Ballads, II. 43). 
The crows and choughs that wing the midway air 
Show scarce so gross as beetles. Shak., Lear, iv. 6. 
2. Unusually large or plump, as from coarse 
growth or fatness : applied to plants or animals, 
and implying in men excessive or repulsive 
fatness. 
One of them is well known, my lord : a gross fat man. 
Shak., IHen. IV., ii. 4. 
Strong-growing pears . . . are grafted on quince stock 
in order to restrict their tendency to form gross shoots. 
Encyc. Brit., XII. 213. 
Burly is a man of a great presence ; he commands a 
larger atmosphere, gives the impression of a grosser mass 
of character than most men. 
R. L. Stevenson, Talk and Talkers, i. 
