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.
Quotation dates: 1724-1916, 1985-1988
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‡GRUNYIE, n.1, v. Also grunzie, ¶grunigh. [′grʌɲi, ′gru-]
I. n. 1. The snout of an animal or (contemptuously) of a person, the “phiz” (Bnff.4 1927).ne.Sc. a.1725 Habbyac on A. Ramsay 5:
Kynd, honest, lugless, thick-scull'd Birds! Sonce fa their Gruinies.Sc. 1740 Ramsay T.T.Misc. IV. 381:
Shame fa' that filthy face of thine, 'Tis crish that gars your grunzie glitter.Ayr. 1792 Burns Willie Wastle iv.:
But Willie's wife is nae sae trig, She dights her grunzie wi' a hushion.Slk. 1820 Hogg Winter Ev. Tales II. 42:
Myne grunzie knoityd with ane cranch against thilke lofte.Ayr. a.1878 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage (1892) 182:
But what aneath his bonnet rim, Should been a Christian face, I vow, It kyth'd the grunzie o' a Jew!Ags. 1882 Brechin Advertiser (4 Apr.) 3:
A beard aroun' her grunzie grew.Edb. 1916 T. W. Paterson Wyse-Sayin's xi. 22:
Like a gowden jewel On the grunzie o' a soo, Sae a bonnie wumman wantin sense.wm.Sc. 1985 Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 21:
The Big Aristocrat - in his ain back-yerd.
Wi' his rid, plooky grunzie - is he no quite it! em.Sc. 1988 James Robertson Chapman 52 72:
Weill, they wis still staunin there, the twa o them, an sic a glumsh on their grunzies, an the auld saw cam intil their heids ...
Adj. grunyasie [ < -ish + ie], ugly, disagreeable, of the face (Ork.5 1955).
†2. “A grumbling morose countenance” (Sc. 1755 Johnson Dict., grunigh).
†3. A grumbling; a grudge, a dislike.Abd. c.1780 in Ellis E.E.P. V. 775:
He aye had a grunyie efter't at Breece.Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 70:
He got that kyne o' meht (food) sae afen 'at he took a grunyie at it.
Hence ill-grunyie, “a bad disposition” (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 87), and ill-grunyiet, adj., having a bad disposition (Ib.). This usage appears to have arisen from a confusion with ill-grun, id., s.v. Grund, n., 2. (1).
II. v. 1. To grunt, of a pig (Cai. 1955).
2. To grumble, find fault (with); followed by at. With at or wi: to be disgusted (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 70).Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 70:
He's eye grunyiein' at something.
