gound en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈɡaʊ̯nd/
Etymology
From Middle English gounde, gownde, from Old English gund (“matter, pus, poison”), from Proto-West Germanic *gund, from Proto-Germanic *gundaz (“sore, boil”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰendʰ- (“ulcer, sore, abscess, boil”). Cognate with Old High German gunt (“purulent matter”), dialectal Norwegian gund (“the scab of an ulcer”).
Meanings
-
(UK, dialectal, uncountable) Mucus produced by the eyes during sleep.
Your eyes have their own goo, too. You know that crud in the corners of your eyes when you first wake up? It's a type of rheum called gound. When you're awake, you blink away the gound.
2016, Darla Duhaime, Gross Body Stuff, page 16:Typical terms invented to fill this vacuum include sleepies, eye-snot, and bed-boogers. The correct word, however, is gound. "Collin was never one to dillydally in the morning: by the time he had rubbed the gound out of his eyes he was usually on his third Manhattan."
2002, Peter Novobatzky, Ammon Shea, Depraved and Insulting English:While you sleep, however, your rheum bundles detritus such as dust, blood cells, skin cells, and mucus into gound, the gummy yellow-y stuff sometimes known as “sleep” […]
2017, Carol Ann Rinzler, Spare Parts: In Praise of Your Appendix and Other Unappreciated Organs:Your eyes get dried mucus in them while you sleep. The stuff is sometimes called bed-boogers or eye-snot, but to be accurate, it is "gound".
2004, Bart King, Chris Sabatino, The Big Book of Boy Stuff:
- (UK, dialectal, uncountable) Gummy matter in sore eyes.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| gund | alternative, dialectal | lexicographic |