Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
GRUSH, v., n. Also †gruss. [grʌʃ]
I. v. 1. To crush, grind, crumble down (Lnk. 1825 Jam.).Lnk. 1818 A. Fordyce Country Wedding 58:
Alas, reputation, thou art but a bubble; A bubble, which malice may grush at its pleasure.Fif. 1827 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd 173:
To gruss him down intill a graff Withouten kist or bier.Sc. 1871 P. H. Waddell Psalms xxxv. 16:
Wi' trokers o' lies at bousin-bouts, again me their teeth they grush't.
Used adv. = in small crumbs.Lnk. 1818 A. Fordyce Country Wedding 18:
Stop, bride, stop! it's your ain cottage door, See that the bread and the cheese be ready. Quick, get a napkin, her bonnet spread o'er, Grush goes the dreaming-bread; pickl't up, lady!
2. To strew with grit.Peb. 1950:
The roads were grushed during the recent frost to prevent skidding.
II. n. 1. Anything in a crushed or crumbled-down state.Lnk. 1825 Jam.:
It's a' gane to grush . . . It's a' to grush.
2. Specif.: grit, fine gravel or road-metal (Ayr.4 1928; Peb., Dmf. 1955). Also fig.Lnk. 1923 G. Rae 'Mang Lowland Hills 20:
Ay, there's few folk parin' life's auld road-face, An' we're needin' the grush o' a langsyne grace.Lnk. 1948 per Edb.3:
People speak of “gettin a load o grush frae Leadhill,” the grush being the fine gravel that comes from the old lead workings.Lnk. 1995 Lanark Gazette 4 May :
Members were also told that the Disabled Access Panel was going to contact the District Council's parks department to ask for a more suitable path round the loch, as the wheels on chairs become locked in the grush there. Lnk. 2003:
Ye'll get grush on yer knee.
Hence grushie, applied to roads whose surface is bad owing to the road-metal not being rolled in or to the influence of rain or frost.Lnk. 1932 per Edb.3:
A friend had asked her about two alternative roads for a car, and she said she did not recommend one because it was very grushie.
