Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GROUND'-RENT, n.

Rent paid for the privilege of building on another man's land. Johnson.

GROUND'-ROOM, n.

A room on the ground; a lower room. Tatler.

GROUND'SEL, n.

A plant of the genus Senecio, of several species.

GROUND'SEL, or GROUND'SILL, n. [ground, and Sax. syll, basis, allied probably to L. sella, that which is set. See Sill.]

The timber of a building which lies next to the ground; commonly called a sill.

GROUND'-SWELL, n.

The swell or rolling of billows in the ocean near the shore, or in water not deep.

GROUND'-TACK-LE, n.

In ships, the ropes and furniture belonging to anchors.

GROUND'WORK, n.

1. The work which forms the foundation or support of any thing; the basis; the fundamentals.
2. The ground; that to which the rest are additional. Dryden.
3. First principle; original reason. Dryden.

GROUP, or GROOP, n. [It. groppo, a knot, a bunch; Fr. groupe; Sp. grupo. It is radically the same word as croup, crupper, rump; W. grab, a cluster, a grape.]

1. A cluster, crowd or throng; an assemblage, either of persons or things; a number collected without any regular form or arrangement; as, a group of men or of trees; a group of isles.
2. In painting and sculpture, an assemblage of two or more figures of men, beasts or other things which have some relation to each other.

GROUP, or GROUP, v.t. [Fr. grouper.]

To form a group; to bring or place together in a cluster or knot; to form an assemblage. The difficulty lies in drawing and disposing, or as the painters term it, in grouping such a multitude of different objects. Prior.

GROUP'ED, or GROOP'ED, pp.

Formed or placed in a crowd.

GROUP'ING, n.

The art of composing or combining the objects of a picture or piece of sculpture. Cyc.

GROUP'ING, or GROOP'ING, ppr.

Bringing together in a cluster or assemblage.

GROUSE, n. [grous; Pers. خُرُوسْ goros, gros, a cock.]

A heath-cock or cock of the wood, a fowl of the genus Tetrao. The name is given to several species, forming a particular division of the genus; such as the black game, the red game, the ptarmigan, the ruffed grouse, &c.

GROUSE, v.i.

To seek or shoot grouse.

GROUS'ING, ppr.

Shooting grouse.

GROUT, n. [Sax. grut. See Groat.]

1. Coarse meal; pollard.
2. A kind of wild apple. Johnson.
3. A thin coarse mortar.
4. That which purges off. Warner.

GROVE, n. [Sax. græf, graf, a grave, a cave; a grove; Goth. groba; from cutting an avenue, or from the resemblance of an avenue to a channel.]

1. In gardening, a small wood or cluster of trees with a shaded avenue, or a wood impervious to the rays of the sun. A grove is either open or close; open when consisting of large trees whose branches shade the ground below; close, when consisting of trees and underwood, which defend the avenues from the rays of the sun and from violent winds. Encyc.
2. A wood of small extent. In America, the word is applied to a wood of natural growth in the field, as well as to planted trees in a garden, but only to a wood of small extent and not to a forest.
3. Something resembling a wood or trees in a wood. Tall groves of masts arose in beauteous pride. Trumball.

GROV'EL, v.i. [grov'l; Ice. gruva; Chaucer, groff, flat on the ground or face; Scot. on groufe; allied to grope, – which see.]

1. To creep on the earth, or with the face to the ground; to lie prone, or move with the body prostrate on the earth; to act in a prostate posture. Gaze on and grovel on thy face. Shak. To creep and grovel on the ground. Milton.
2. To be low or mean; as, groveling sense; groveling thoughts. Dryden. Addison.

GROV'EL-ER, n.

One who grovels; an abject wretch.

GROV'EL-ING, ppr.

1. Creeping; moving on the ground.
2. adj. Mean; without dignity or elevation.

GROV'Y, a.

Pertaining to a grove; frequenting groves.

GROW, v.i. [pret. grew; pp. grown. Sax. growan; D. groeyen; Dan. groer; Sw. gro, a contracted word; W. crotiaw, crythu, to grow, to swell. This is probably the same word as L. cresco, Russ. rastu, rostu, a dialectical variation of crodh or grodh. The French croître, and Eng. increase, retain the final consonant.]

1. To enlarge in bulk or stature, by a natural, imperceptible addition of matter, through ducts and secreting organs, as animal and vegetable bodies; to vegetate as plants, or to be augmented by natural process, as animals. Thus, a plant grows from a seed to a shrub or tree, and a human being grows from a fetus to a man. He causeth the grass to grow for cattle. Ps. civ.
2. To be produced by vegetation; as, wheat grows in most parts of the world; rice grows only in warm climates.
3. To increase; to be augmented; to wax; as, a body grows larger by inflation or distension; intemperance is a growing evil.
4. To advance; to improve; to make progress; as, to grow in grace, in knowledge, in piety. The young man is growing in reputation.
5. To advance; to extend. His reputation is growing.
6. To come by degrees; to become; to reach any state; as, he grows more skillful, or more prudent. Let not vice grow to a habit, or into a habit.
7. To come forward; to advance. [Not much used.] Winter began to grow fast on. – Knolles.
8. To be changed from one state to another; to become; as, to grow pale; to grow poor; to grow rich.
9. To proceed, as from a cause or reason. Lax morals may grow from errors in opinion.
10. To accrue; to come. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings? – Ezra iv.
11. To swell; to increase; as, the wind grew to a tempest. To grow out of, to issue from; as plants from the soil, or as a branch from the main stem. These wars have grown out of commercial considerations. – Federalist, Hamilton. To grow up, to arrive at manhood, or to advance to full stature or maturity. To grow up, or To grow together, To close and adhere; to become united by growth; as flesh or the bark of a tree severed. Grow signifies, properly, to shoot out, to enlarge; but it is often used to denote a passing from one state to another, and from greater to less. Marriages grow less frequent. – Paley. [To grow less, is an abuse of this word; the phrase should be to become less.]

GROW, v.t.

To produce; to raise; as, a farmer grows large quantities of wheat. [This is a modern abusive use of grow, but prevalent in Great Britain, and the British use begins to be imitated in America. Until within a few years we never heard grow used as a transitive verb in New England, and the ear revolts at the practice.]

GROW'ER, n.

1. One who grows; that which increases.
2. In English use, one who raises or produces.

GROW'ING, ppr.

Increasing; advancing in size or extent; becoming; accruing; swelling; thriving.