Dictionary

grice en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /ɡɹʌɪs/ (UK)

Etymology

From Middle English gris, from Old Norse gríss (“male pig; pigling”). Compare Old Dutch gristo, gristio (“boar, wild boar”).

Meanings

1. (Scotland) A pig, especially a young pig, or its meat; sometimes specifically, a breed of pig or boar native to north Britain, now extinct.
   • A model of the grice - which was the size of a large dog and had tusks - has been created after work by researchers and a taxidermist. 2006 November 17, “Extinct island pig spotted again”, in BBC News:
   • Further, there was of meats wheat bread, main-bread and ginge-bread with fleshes, beef, mutton, lamb, veal, venison, goose, grice, capon, coney, cran, swan, partridge, plover, duck, drake, brissel-cock and pawnies, black-cock and muir-fowl, cappercaillies; 1728, Robert Lindsay, The history of Scotland, from 21 February, 1436. to March, 1565: in which are contained accounts of many remarkable passages altogether differing from our other historians, and many facts are related, either concealed by some, or omitted by others, Mr. Baskett and Company, page 146:
   • Through a door to one of the galleries, left half open on purpose I was attracted to a dainty hot supper, consisting of stewed mushrooms and the fat paps and ears of very young pigs, or, as they call them, gricen. 1789, William Thomson, Mammuth: or, human nature displayed on a grand scale: in a tour with the tinkers, into the inland parts of Africa. By the man in the moon. In two volumes. publ. G. and T. Wilkie, pg.105
   • This fine Smooth bawson cub, the young grice of a gray 1641, Ben Jonson, The Sad Shepherd:

Forms

Deriveds

griskin

grice en · VERB · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /ɡɹʌɪs/ (UK)

Etymology

Back-formation from gricer.

Meanings

1. (UK, slang) To act as a trainspotter; to partake in the activity or hobby of trainspotting; to trainspot.
   • Many people joined the railways because the 'carrot' of a staff pass was a considerable attraction, whether for family travel or to grice at extremely low cost. 1999 March 29, Tony Polson, “Re: Do all UK rail staff get free unlimited Eurostar travel?”, in uk.railway (Usenet):
   • We can also roganise photo charters, large group footplate courses and gricing holidays [...] 2005 August, The Railway Magazine, volume 151, number 1252, IPC Business Press, page 55:
   • Trainspotters may be mocked by the outside world, but they don't take criticism lying down: the language of gricing is notable for its acidic descriptions of outsiders. 2010, Adam Jacot de Boinod, “Gricer's Daughter”, in I Never Knew There Was a Word For It, →ISBN:

Forms

grice en · NOUN · etymology 3

Pronunciation

• /ɡɹʌɪs/ (UK)

Etymology

Formed by analogy with lice and mice as the plurals of louse and mouse.

Meanings

1. (obsolete) A step or stair.
   • he stood under the grices 1612, Ben Jonson, Love Restored:
2. (form-of, humorous, nonstandard, plural, usually) plural of grouse
   form of grouse
   • I thought the Silly Season didn't start until after the Glorious Twelfth (of August), when the Season had ended, Parliament was no longer sitting and everybody had gone to Scotland to shoot grice, so there was no news of any kind to report. 2006 July 27, Lesley Weston, “[R] U.S. Zombies denied their rights: a job for Reg Shoe!”, in alt.fan.pratchett (Usenet), archived from the original on 21 Jul 2026:
   • Isn't it considered unsporting to shoot grice from on horseback? 2007 May 14, Peter Moylan, “When the Flyin' Scot”, in alt.usage.english (Usenet), archived from the original on 21 Jul 2026:
   • Wow! You are clever, Rex. I think you're really Prince Charles in disguise because he refers to "shooting grice on the moor" and living in "a hice".^([sic]) He's supposed to be really posh! ;-) so he'd say "rind" too - if he played "gofe". 2006 December 29, Bernadette, “Bacon is back!”, in uk.media.radio.bbc-r5 (Usenet), archived from the original on 21 Jul 2026:
   • If your grice are much like ours, one grouse would feed two people who would otherwise be satisfied by a roast song sparrow apiece. 2015 August 11, Mike Spencer, “Cor! Stuff a grouse”, in uk.rec.sheds (Usenet), archived from the original on 21 Jul 2026:
   • Logan and I collected bugs in his bug jar while Lily ran all over the place trying to find Mrs. Grouse and all the little Grice. 2004 May 30, Ball 32, “American Chestnut”, in alt.society.zeitgeist (Usenet), archived from the original on 21 Jul 2026:
   • Ambled back down through the cloud, which had drifted up from the west, and got back to the car about 6am, flushing a grouse family of parent and about 10 mini-grice from beside the path. 2004 June 6, Paul Rooney, “Kinder sunrise”, in uk.rec.walking (Usenet), archived from the original on 21 Jul 2026:

Forms