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Grunt

//ɡɹʌnt// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A short snorting sound, often to show disapproval, or used as a reply when one is reluctant to speak.

    "The stranger, with a comfortable kind of grunt over his pipe, put his legs up on the settle that he had to himself."

  2. 2
    medium-sized tropical marine food fishes that utter grunting sounds when caught wordnet
  3. 3
    The snorting cry of a pig.
  4. 4
    the short low gruff noise of the kind made by hogs wordnet
  5. 5
    Any fish of the perciform family Haemulidae.
Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    an unskilled or low-ranking soldier or other worker wordnet
  2. 7
    A person who does ordinary and boring work.
  3. 8
    An infantry soldier. US, slang

    "The poges stare at the grunts as though the grunts were Hell's Angels at the ballet."

  4. 9
    The amount of power of which a vehicle is capable. slang

    "The engine might not possess quite as much grunt as the later 24v six, but it delivers invigorating performance […]"

  5. 10
    A dessert of steamed berries and dough, usually blueberries; blueberry grunt. Canada, US
Verb
  1. 1
    To make a grunt or grunts. intransitive

    "to grunt and sweat under a weary life"

  2. 2
    issue a grunting, low, animal-like noise wordnet
  3. 3
    To make a grunt or grunts. intransitive
  4. 4
    To break wind; to fart. UK, intransitive, slang

    "Who just grunted?"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English grunten, from Old English grunnettan (“to grunt”), from Proto-West Germanic *grunnattjan, from Proto-Germanic *grunnatjaną (“to grunt”), frequentative of Proto-Germanic *grunnōną (“to grunt”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrun- (“to shout”). Cognate with German grunzen (“to grunt”), Danish grynte (“to grunt”). The noun senses are all instances of zero derivation from the verb.

Etymology 2

From Middle English grunten, from Old English grunnettan (“to grunt”), from Proto-West Germanic *grunnattjan, from Proto-Germanic *grunnatjaną (“to grunt”), frequentative of Proto-Germanic *grunnōną (“to grunt”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrun- (“to shout”). Cognate with German grunzen (“to grunt”), Danish grynte (“to grunt”). The noun senses are all instances of zero derivation from the verb.

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