subs. (old).—1. An active, lively, and jocose person: as in the phrase ‘Merry as a GRIG.’ [An allusion to the liveliness of the grasshopper, sand-eel, or to GRIG (= Greek: cf., Troilus and Cressida, i. 2; iv. 4).
1611. COTGRAVE, Dictionarie. Gale-bon-temps. A MERRY GRIG, a good fellow, good drunkard, pot-companion.
1673. WYCHERLEY, The Gentleman Dancing-Master, i., 1, wks. (1713) 251. Monf. Hah, ah, ah, Cousine, dou art a merry GRIGG,—ma foy.
c. 1696. B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, s.v. GRIG. A merry GRIG; a merry fellow.
1719. D’URFEY, Wit and Mirth; or Pills to Purge Melancholy, i., 43.
| The States-man that talks on the Wool-sack big, | |
| Could bustle to the Opera, as MERRY AS A GRIG. |
1765. GOLDSMITH, Essays, VI. I grew as merry as a GRIG, and laughed at every word that was spoken.
1852. DICKENS, Bleak House, ch. xix., p. 159. The learned gentleman … is as merry as a GRIG at a French watering-place.
c. 1696. B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, s.v. Not a GRIG did he tip me, not a farthing would he give me.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
1839. W. H. AINSWORTH, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 15. ‘He shall go through the whole course,’ replied Blueskin, with a ferocious grin, ‘unless he comes down to the last GRIG.’
Verb. (American).—To vex; to worry.
1855. HALIBURTON (‘Sam Slick’), Natue and Human Nature, p. 83. That word ‘superiors’ GRIGGED me. Thinks I, ‘My boy, I’ll just take that expression, roll it up in a ball, and shy it back at you.’
