gross 
3. Coarse in texture or form ; coarse in taste, 
or as related to any of the senses ; not fine or 
delicate. 
Feede thi howce with grace, & not with delycate meete. 
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 29. 
Their diet is extremely qross. 
E. '. Lane, Modern Egyptians, II. 347. 
4. Coarse in a moral sense ; vulgar ; indeli- 
cate; broad: applied to either persons or 
things. 
It [Platonic love] is a Love abstracted from all corporeal 
fiross Impressions and sensual Appetite. 
ifowell, Letters, I. vi. 15. 
Belial came last, than whom a spirit more lewd 
Fell not from heaven, or more gross to love 
Vice for itself. Milton, P. L., i. 491. 
She certainly has talents, but her manner is gross, 
Sheridan, School for Scandal, i. 1. 
The terms which are delicate in one age become gross 
in the next. Afacaulay, Leigh Hunt. 
5. Remarkably glaring or reprehensible ; enor- 
mous; shameful; flagrant: as, a, gross mistake; 
gross injustice. 
Neither speak I of gross sinners, not grafted into Christ ; 
but even to those that applaud themselves in their holy 
portion, and look to be saved. 
Rev. T. Adams, Works, III. 89. 
All heresies, how gross soever, have found a welcome 
with the people. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., i. 3. 
The injustice of the verdict was so grots that the very 
courtiers cried shame. Maeaulay, Hist. Eng., vii. 
6. Thick; dense; not attenuated; not refined 
or pure: as, a gross medium; gross air; gross 
elements. 
On that bright Sunne of Glorie fixe thine eyes, 
Clear'd from grosse mists of fraile infirmities. 
Spenser, Hymn of Heavenly Beauty, 1. 140. 
She is back't 
By th' Amafrose and cloudy Cataract, 
That (gathering up gross humours inwardly 
In th' optique sinew) quite puts out the eye. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas s Weeks, ii., The Furies. 
The eye of Heaven 
Burst not behold your speed, but hid itself 
Behind the grossest clouds. 
Fletcher (and another ?), Prophetess, ii. 3. 
7. Not acute or sensitive in perception, appre- 
hension, or feeling ; stupid ; dull. 
Lay open to my earthy gross conceit . . . 
The folded meaning of your words' deceit. 
Shak., C. of E., iii. 2. 
Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear. 
Milton, Comus, 1. 458. 
The Turks . . . being a people generally of the grossest 
apprehension, and knowing few other pleasures but such 
sensualities as are equally common both to Men and 
Beasts. Maundrell, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 41. 
8. Whole ; entire ; total ; specifically, without 
deduction, as for charges or waste material; 
without allowance of tare and tret : opposed to 
net : as, the gross sum or amount ; gross profits, 
income, or weight. 
It were better to giue flue hundred pound a tun for 
those grosse Commodities in Denmarke then send for 
them hither. Capt. John Smith, Works, I. 203. 
9. General ; not entering into detail. [Rare.] 
Anatomical results have a reputation for superior credi- 
bility, and it is a generally accepted idea that within the 
limits of gross anatomy this reputation is well grounded ; 
but when we glance at the work in minute anatomy or 
histology, it seems as though a long time must elapse be- 
fore this latter would be thus honored. 
Amer. Jour. Psychol., I. 209. 
Gross anatomy, negligence, etc. Seethenouns.= Syn. 
3-5. Rude, unrefined, animal, low, broad, unseemly, glar- 
ing, outrageous. 
II. n. 1. The main body; the chief part; 
the bulk ; the mass : now chiefly or only in the 
phrase in gross or in the gross (which see, be- 
low). 
Remember, son, 
You are a general ; other wars require you ; 
For see, the Saxon gross begins to move. 
Dryden, King Arthur. 
Such are the thoughts of the executive part of an army, 
and indeed of the gross of mankind in general. 
Steele, Spectator, No. 152. 
2. A unit of tale, consisting of twelve dozen, 
or 144. It never has the plural form : as, five 
gross or ten gross. 3. Thick soft food, such as 
porridge, etc. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] Ad- 
vowson in gross. See adwwson, 2. A great gross, 
twelve gross, or 144 dozen. A small gross, 120. Com- 
mon In gross. See common, n., 4. In gross, in the 
gross, in bulk ; in the lump ; wholesale : generally used 
in feudal and common law to indicate that a right referred 
to was annexed to the person of an owner, as distinguished 
from one which was appendant to specific real property, 
so as to belong always to the owner of that property. 
No more than it were either possible or to purpose to 
seek ingross the forms of those sounds which make words. 
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 163. 
There are great Preparations for the Funeral, and there 
is a Design to buy all the Cloth for Mourning white, and 
then put it to the Dyers in gross, which is like to save the 
Crown a good deal of Money. Howell, Letters, I. iv. 7. 
2633 
I hear unlettered men talk of a people they do not know, 
and condemn them in the gross they know not why. 
Goldsmith, Abuse of Our Enemies. 
Villein in gross. See villein. 
gTOSSt (gros), adv. [< gross, a.] After large 
game: as L to fly gross : said of a hawk. Howell. 
gTOSSt (gros), v. t. [< ME. grossen, grosen, gro- 
cen; by apheresis from engross, q. v.] To en- 
gross. Prompt. Pan., p. 214. 
grossart (gros'art), n. A variant of grom-r. 
[Scotch and North. Eng.] 
grossbeak, . See grosbeak. 
grossett, . [ME., < OF. arosaet, dim. of gros, 
a coin so called : see gros*.] A groat. Satti- 
well. 
grpssfult (gros'ful), a. [Irreg. < gross, a., + 
-ful.] Of gross character or quality. 
Let me heare 
My grossest faults as grossefull as they were. 
Chapman, Bussy d'Ambois, i. 2. 
gross-headed (gros'hed'ed), a. Having a thick 
skull; stupid. 
This was it, to pluck out of the heads of his admirers 
the conceit that all who are not prelatical are gross-head- 
ed, thick-witted, illiterate, shallow. 
Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus. 
grossiflcation (gr6"si-n-ka'shon), n. [< grossi- 
fy + -ation : see -ficatton.'] The act of making 
gross or thick, or the state of becoming gross or 
thick ; especially, in bot. } the swelling of the 
ovary of plants after fertilization, 
grpssify (gro'si-fi), v. t. or i. ; pret. and pp. gros- 
sified, ppr. grossifying. [< gross + -l-fy.] To 
make gross or thick; become gross or thick. 
Imp. Diet. 
grossly (gros'li), adv. In a gross manner; 
greatly; coarsely; vulgarly; stupidly; shame- 
fully. 
He means to gull all but himself ; when, truly, 
None is so grossly gull'd as he. 
Beau, and Fl., Laws of Candy, v. 1. 
Nor is the people's judgment always true : 
The most may err as grossly as the few. 
Dryden, Abs. and Achit, i. 782. 
An offender who has grossly violated the laws. 
Junius, Letters, xlv. 
The sculpture, painting, and literature of mediaeval 
Europe show how grossly anthropomorphic was the con- 
ception of deity which prevailed down to recent centu- 
ries. U. Spencer, Prin. of Sociol., 203. 
grossness (gros'nes), n. The state or quality 
of being gross, in any sense ; especially, indeli- 
cacy; rudeness; vulgarity. 
Stars fall but in the grossness of our sight, 
Ford, Broken Heart, ii. 3. 
The element immediately next the earth in grosness is 
water. Sir K. Digby, Nature of Bodies, xxvii. 
For envied wit, like Sol eclipsed, makes known 
The opposing body's grossness, not its own. 
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 469. 
Vice itself lost half its evil by losing all its grossnest. 
Burke, Rev. in France. 
grossulaceous (gros-u-la'shius), a. [< NL. 
grossulaceus, < grossula (< OF. groselle), etc., a 
gooseberry: see groser.] Resembling or per- 
taining to the gooseberry and currant. 
grossular (gros'u-lar), a. and n. [< ML. and 
NL. grossula, a gooseberry : see groser.] I. a. 
Pertaining to or resembling a gooseberry : as, 
grossular garnet. 
II. n. A variety of garnet found in Siberia : 
so named from its green color, resembling that 
of the gooseberry. It belongs to the lime-alumina 
variety of the species, and the name is often extended to 
include garnets of other colors having a like composition. 
See gameti. Also called grossularite. 
Grossularieae (gros"u-la-ri'f-e), n.pl. [NL.,< 
Grossularia (< grossula, a gooseberry) + -e<E.] 
A botanical tribe of the natural order Saxifra- 
gaceai, consisting of the single genus Ribes, 
comprehending the gooseberry and currant: 
now known as Ribesiea!. See gooseberry, Ribes. 
grossularite (gros'u-lar-It), n. [< grossular + 
-<e 2 .] Same as grossular. 
grot 1 (grot), n. [= D. grot, < F. grotte, a grot, 
a cave: see grotto^, A grotto. [Now chiefly 
poetical.] 
Winding with the wall along the outward North-alley 
of the Chancell, at the far end thereof is a Grot hewn out 
of the rock. Sandys, Travailes, p. 131. 
Umbrageous grots and caves 
Of cool recess, o'er which the mantling vine 
Lays forth her purple grape. Milton, P. L., iv. 257. 
Th 
The babbling runnel crispeth, 
he hollow grot replieth. Tennyson, Claribel. 
grot-t, groteti " Middle English forms of 
groat. Chaucer. 
(irotea (gro'te-a), n. [NL. (Cresson, 1864), af- 
ter A. R. Groic, an American entomologist.] 
1. An American genus of ichneumon-flies, of 
Grotian 
the subfamily Pimplitue. 2. A genus of arc- 
tiid moths. Moore, 1865. 
grotOSCOt, and n. [< It. grottesco : see gro- 
tesque."] I. . Grotesque. 
Palladian walls, Venetian doors, 
Grotesco roofs, and stucco floors. 
Pope, Imlt. of Horace, II. vi. 192. 
II. H. A grotesque. Nares. 
Who askt the banes 'twixt these discolour'd mates ? 
A strange grotesco this, the Church and States. 
Cleaveland, Poems (1691). 
grotesque (gro-tesk'), a. and n. [= D. G. Dan. 
Sw. grotesk, <' F. grotesque, < It. grottesco = Sp. 
Pg. qrutesco, odd, antic, ludicrous, in reference 
to the style of paintings called grotesques (F. 
grotesques, < It. grottesea, "antick or landskip 
worke of painters" (Florio), found in ancient 
crypts and grottos), < It. grotta, a grotto : see 
grotto, grofl, and -esquc.~\ I. a. If. Consisting 
of or resembling artificial grotto-work. 
A sort of grotesque carv'd work, cut in an inclined plain 
from the outside of the wall to the door, which has a grand 
appearance. Pococke, Description of the East, I. 194. 
Hence 2. Of the fantastic character of such 
grotto-work and of its decoration; wildly 
formed ; of irregular forms and proportions ; 
ludicrous ; antic (which see), as the arabesques 
of the Renaissance, in which figures human to 
the waist terminate in scrolls, leafage, and the 
like, and are associated with animal forms and 
impossible flowers ; hence, in general, whimsi- 
cal, extravagant, or odd ; absurdly bold : often, 
or more commonly, used in a sense of con- 
demnation or depreciation. 
The champain head 
Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides 
With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild, 
Access denied. Milton, P. L., iv. 136. 
The numerous fictions, generally original, often wild 
and grotesque, but always singularly graceful and happy, 
which are found in his essays, fully entitle him to the 
rank of a great poet. Macaulay, Addison. 
Puck and Ariel, and the grotesque train 
That do inhabit slumber. 
T. B. Aldrich, Invocation to Sleep. 
= Syn. 2. Fantastic, etc. (see fanciful) ; whimsical, wild, 
strange. 
II. n. 1. That which is grotesque, as an un- 
couth or ill-proportioned figure, rude and sav- 
age scenery, an inartistic, clownish, or absurd 
fancy, a clumsy satire, or the like. 
But in the grand grotesque of farce, Munden stands out 
as single and unaccompanied as Hogarth. 
Lamb, Acting of Munden. 
From time to time, as you wander, you will meet a 
lonely, stunted tree, which is sure to be a charming piece 
of the individual grotesque. 
H. James, Jr., Portraits of Places, p. 348. 
Specifically 2. In art, a capricious figure, 
work, or ornament; especially, a variety of 
arabesque which as a whole has no type in na- 
ture, being a combination of the parts of ani- 
mals and plants, and of other incongruous ele- 
ments. 
There are no grotesques in nature. 
Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, xv. 
The foliage and grotesq about some of the compartments 
are admirable. Evelyn, Diary, Jan. 18, 1645. 
Wanton grotesques thrusting themselves forth from ev- 
ery pinnacle and gargoyle. 
Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 101. 
3. In printing, any uncouth form of type; spe- 
cifically, in Great Britain, the black square-cut 
display-type called gothic in the United States. 
grotesquely (gro-tesk'li), adv. In a grotesque 
manner; very absurdly. 
Sometimes this juggle which is practised with the word 
theology becomes grotesquely apparent. 
J. R. Seeleij, Nat. Religion, p. 60. 
grotesqueness (gro-tesk'nes), . The charac- 
ter of being grotesque. 
Seldom went such grotesqutness with such woe. 
Browning, Childe Roland. 
Fancies, however extravagant in grotesquenessot shadow 
or shape. Jlwkin. 
grotesquery (gro-tes'ker-i), n. ; pi. grotesqueries 
(-iz). [< grotesque + -ery.] An embodiment 
or expression of grotesqueness ; grotesque con- 
duct or speech ; a grotesque action. 
His [Prof. Wilson's] range of power is extraordinary : 
from the nicest subtleties of feminine tenderness, he 
passes at will to the wildest animal riot and the most 
daring grotesqueries of humour. Chambers's Encyc. 
Think of ... the grotesqueries of Caliban and Trinculo. 
S. Lanier, The English Novel, p. 285. 
Grotian (gro'shi-an), . [< Grotius (a Latin- 
ized form of D. Groot: see def.) + -an.] Of or 
pertaining to Grotius (Hugo de Groot), a dis- 
tinguished Dutch scholar and statesman (1583- 
1645), and the founder of the modern science 
of international law Grotian theory, the doctrine, 
