Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
GREW, n., v. Also grue; gru (Cld. 1880 Jam.); groo (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.). [Sc. gru:, Rxb. + griu:]
I. n. A greyhound (wm., sm. and s.Sc., Uls. 1955). Now freq. in pl. with def. art. = greyhound racing. Also attrib. as in grew bitch, — dog. Also in n.Eng. dial. Occas. used fig. as a nickname for a tall thin person (Rxb. 1915) or for “a greedy insatiable person” (Uls. 1924 North. Whig (21 Jan.), Uls.4 1955).Sc. 1701 Foulis Acc. Bk. (S.H.S.) 297:
Sep. 23. For a collar and turrets to the grew bitch . . . 0. 6. 0.Edb. 1801 J. Thomson Poems 146:
But O! he is a happy grew, That sic a master has as you.Rnf. 1810 R. Tannahill Poems (1876) 290:
I ca'd her aye my sonsie doo, . . . Yet, like a souple spankie grew, She fled frae Callum Brogach.Slk. 1813 Hogg Queen's Wake 73:
Fleet is the roe on the green Lommond, And swift is the couryng grew.Sc. 1820 Scott Letters (Cent. ed.) VI. 294:
14 Nov.: Saw twelve hares and killd six having very hard runs and tiring three brace of grews completely.Sc. 1829 G. Robertson Recollections 183:
His [collie's] place is ill supplied by the unmeaning grew dog.Dmf. 1831 R. Shennan Tales 54:
They brak the yard, took beans and peas, . . . Took out the grue, and hunted hares.Abd. 1868 G. Macdonald R. Falconer I. v.:
What wad the grew be efter but maukin?wm.Sc. 1868 Laird of Logan Add. 499:
A young lady tightly corseted, and of sandglass form, is said to be like Jock Broun's grew, fa'en through the middle wi' gentleness.Ayr. a.1878 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage (1892) 190:
Is that your gaet, ye greedy grew?Uls. 1904 Victoria Coll. Mag. 41:
A man may be “as hungry as a grew.”Sc. 1931 J. Lorimer Red Sergeant xvii.:
Let no one say cairds do not fare well when the land they camp on suits the lanky grews that sneak at the horses' heels.wm.Sc. 1989 William McIlvanney Walking Wounded 81:
' ... That's a good dog ye've got. A tenement's no place for a grew, that's why Ah got rid of it.' w.Lth. 2000 Davie Kerr A Puckle Poems 19:
Syne gaed doun ti thir doo-cots, ti let oot the doos,
While some walkit wee whippits, or slippit thir groo's.
Comb.: groo man, a person who keeps greyhounds.Sc. 1964 Weekly Scotsman (19 March) 9:
The groo-men, as the less charitable called the dog-owning colliers.wm.Sc. 1988 Scotsman (Weekend) 11 Jun.:
I got to know doo men and groo men (pigeon fanciers and greyhound owners) and sometimes I would be asked to lecture the racing-pigeon boys on hawks and falcons.
†II. v. To course with greyhounds.Sc. 1826 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1863) I. 172:
I get fonder and fonder o' grewin every season.
