Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

GROSER, n. Also grozer, grozar. A gooseberry (Sc. 1808 Jam., groser; Per. 1915, Fif. 1926 Wilson; Bwk. 1942 Wettstein; Abd., Ags. (gen. green groser), Per., Fif., Clc. 1955). Also attrib. with buss and in comb. hairy grozer (Ags. 1894 J. B. Salmond My Man Sandy (1899) viii.). [′grozər]Edb. 1773 Session Papers, Petition B. Yule (15 June) 3:
Two fruit trees, and several grozar or gooseberry bushes.Per. 1816 J. Duff Poems 160:
Just grozers an' rizers an' a', Brumbels, blae berries an' a'.Abd. 1853 W. Cadenhead Flights 191:
And Geordie Deary's grozers — O'! I think I taste them yet.Knr. 1886 “H. Haliburton” Horace 47:
Wha's grozer-busses mak' amen's For scarcity o' crap.Sc. 1935 D. Rorie Lum Hat 32:
Tak a' thing as it comes, An' niver wyte the grozer buss For no' bein' fu' o' plums.Ags. 1942 Scots Mag. (Nov.) 109:
Ripe and unripe “grosers” followed each other with great haste into the bag.