Rarely Used G Words

Rarely Used G Words Gaberdine • noun 1 a smooth, durable twill-woven worsted or cotton cloth. 2 Brit. a raincoat made of gaberdine. — ORIGIN Old French gauvardine, perhaps from High German wallevart ‘pilgrimage’ and originally ‘a garment worn by a pilgrim’.

Gad • verb (gadded, gadding) (gad about/around) informal go around from one place to another seeking pleasure and entertainment. — ORIGIN

from obsolete gadling wanderer, vagabond, from Germanic.

Gaffe • noun an embarrassing blunder. — ORIGIN

French, ‘boathook’, in colloquial use ‘blunder’.

Gaga • adjective informal rambling in speech or thought; senile or slightly mad. — ORIGIN

French.

Gaggle • noun 1 a flock of geese. 2 informal a disorderly group of people. — ORIGIN

imitative of the noise that a goose makes.

Gainsay • verb (past and past part. gainsaid) formal deny or contradict; speak against. — DERIVATIVES — ORIGIN

gainsayer noun.

from obsolete gain- ‘against’ + SAY.

Gaiter • noun 1 a covering of cloth or leather for the ankle and lower leg. 2 chiefly US a shoe or overshoe extending to the ankle or above. — DERIVATIVES — ORIGIN

gaitered adjective.

French guêtre.

Galleon • noun historical a large square-rigged sailing ship with three or more decks and masts. — ORIGIN

French galion or Spanish galeón.

Gallinaceous • adjective 1 pertaining to or resembling the domestic fowls. 2 belonging or pertaining to the order Galliformes, comprising medium-sized, mainly ground-feeding domestic or game birds, as the chicken, turkey, grouse, pheasant, and partridge. — ORIGIN 1775–85; < L gallīnāceus pertaining to poultry, equiv. to gallīn(a) hen (deriv. of gallus cock) + -āceus -ACEOUS

Gallivant • verb informal go from place to place seeking pleasure and entertainment. — ORIGIN

perhaps from GALLANT.

Galosh • noun a waterproof rubber overshoe. — ORIGIN

originally denoting a type of clog: from Latin gallica solea ‘Gallic shoe’.

Gambol • verb (gambolled, gambolling; US gamboled, gamboling) run or jump about playfully. • noun an act of gambolling. — ORIGIN

Italian gambata ‘trip up’.

Gambit • noun 1 an action or remark calculated to gain an advantage. 2 (in chess) an opening move in which a player makes a sacrifice for the sake of some compensating advantage. — ORIGIN

Italian gambetto ‘tripping up’.

Gamete • noun Biology a mature haploid male or female germ cell which is able to unite with another of the opposite sex in sexual reproduction to form a zygote. — DERIVATIVES — ORIGIN

gametic /g mettik/ adjective.

Greek gamete ‘wife’, gametes ‘husband’, from gamos ‘marriage’.

Gamin • noun a neglected boy left to run about the streets; street urchin. — ORIGIN 1830–40; < F, orig. boy assisting a glassblower, young boy; of uncert. orig.

• noun 1 ham which has been cured like bacon. 2 the bottom piece of a side of bacon, including a hind leg. Gammon

— ORIGIN

Old French gambon, from gambe ‘leg’.

Gander • noun 1 a male goose. 2 informal a look or glance. — ORIGIN

Old English, related to GANNET.

Gangling • adjective (of a person) tall, thin, and awkward. — ORIGIN

from GANG

Gangplank • noun a movable plank used to board or disembark from a ship or boat. Gangway • noun 1 a raised platform or walkway providing a passage. 2 a movable bridge linking a ship to the shore. 3 Brit. a passage between rows of seats in an auditorium, aircraft, etc. • exclamation make way! Gannet • noun 1 a large seabird with mainly white plumage, catching fish by plunge-diving. 2 Brit. informal a greedy person. — ORIGIN

Old English, related to GANDER.

Gantry • noun (pl. gantries) a bridge-like overhead structure supporting equipment such as a crane or railway signals. — ORIGIN

originally denoting a wooden stand for barrels: probably from GALLON + TREE.

Garble • verb reproduce (a message or transmission) in a confused and distorted way. • noun a garbled account or transmission. — DERIVATIVES — ORIGIN

garbler noun.

originally in the sense sift out, cleanse: from an Arabic word meaning sift.

Garish • adjective obtrusively bright and showy; lurid. — DERIVATIVES — ORIGIN

garishly adverb garishness noun.

of unknown origin.

Garnet • noun a deep red semi-precious stone. — ORIGIN perhaps from Latin granatum, as in pomum granatum ‘pomegranate’ (literally ‘apple having many seeds’), because the garnet is similar in colour to the pulp of the fruit.

Garnishee • verb used with object 1 to attach (money or property) by garnishment. 2 to serve (a person) with a garnishment. — ORIGIN 1620–30; GARNISH + -EE

Garret • noun a top-floor or attic room. — ORIGIN

originally in the sense watchtower: from Old French garite, from garir (see GARRISON).

Garrulous • adjective excessively talkative. — DERIVATIVES — ORIGIN

garrulity /g rooliti/ noun garrulously adverb garrulousness noun.

Latin garrulus, from garrire ‘to chatter, prattle’.

Gasket • noun a sheet or ring of rubber or other material sealing the junction between two surfaces in an engine or other device. originally denoting a cord securing a furled sail to the yard of a sailing ship: perhaps from French garcette ‘thin rope’ (originally ‘little girl’). — ORIGIN

Gastropod • noun Zoology any of a large class of molluscs including snails, slugs, and whelks. — ORIGIN

from Greek gaster ‘stomach’ + pous ‘foot’.

Gauche • adjective socially awkward or unsophisticated. — DERIVATIVES

gauchely adverb gaucheness noun.

— ORIGIN

French, ‘left’.

Gavel • noun a small hammer with which an auctioneer, judge, etc., hits a surface to call for attention or order. • verb (gavelled, gavelling; US gaveled, gaveling) bring to order by use of a gavel. — ORIGIN

originally denoting a stonemason’s mallet: of unknown origin.

Gazump • verb Brit. informal deprive (someone whose offer to purchase a house has already been accepted) from proceeding with the purchase by offering or accepting a higher figure. — DERIVATIVES — ORIGIN

gazumper noun.

originally in the sense ‘swindle’: from Yiddish, ‘overcharge’.

Geezer • noun informal a man. — ORIGIN

representing a dialect pronunciation of earlier guiser ‘mummer’.

Geld • verb castrate (a male animal). — ORIGIN Gelding

from an Old Norse word meaning ‘barren’.

• noun a castrated animal, especially a male horse.

Gelignite • noun a high explosive made from a gel of nitroglycerine and nitrocellulose in a base of wood pulp and sodium or potassium nitrate, used particularly for blasting rock. — ORIGIN

probably from GELATIN + Latin lignis ‘wood’.

Genera • noun plural for genus. Genitive • adjective denoting a case indicating possession or close association. • noun a word in the genitive case. — ORIGIN

from Latin genitivus casus ‘case of production or origin’, from gignere ‘beget’.

Genuflect • verb lower one’s body briefly by bending one knee to the ground in worship or as a sign of respect. — DERIVATIVES — ORIGIN

genuflection noun.

Latin genuflectere, from genu ‘knee’ + flectere ‘to bend’.

Gerrymander • verb manipulate the boundaries of (an electoral constituency) so as to favour one party or class. from the name of Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts + SALAMANDER, from the supposed similarity between a salamander and the shape of a new voting district created when he was in office (1812), which was felt to favour his party. — ORIGIN

Gerund • noun Grammar a verb form which functions as a noun, in English ending in -ing (e.g. asking in do you mind my asking you?). — ORIGIN

Latin gerundum, from gerere ‘do’.

Gesticulate • verb gesture dramatically in place of or to emphasize speech. — DERIVATIVES — ORIGIN

gesticulation noun.

Latin gesticulari, from gestus ‘action’.

Giblet • noun Usually, giblets. the heart, liver, gizzard, and the like, of a fowl, often cooked separately. — ORIGIN 1275–1325; ME < OF gibelet a stew of game; cf. F gibelotte rabbit stew

• noun (pl. gigolos) 1 a young man paid by an older woman to be her escort or lover. 2 a professional male dancing partner. Gigolo

— ORIGIN

French, formed as the masculine of gigole ‘dance hall woman’, from colloquial gigue

‘leg’. Gimlet • noun a small T-shaped tool with a screw-tip for boring holes. — ORIGIN

Old French guimbelet ‘little drill’.

Gingival • adjective Medicine concerned with the gums. — ORIGIN

from Latin gingiva ‘gum’.

Girth • noun 1 the measurement around the middle of something, especially a person’s waist. 2 a band attached to a saddle and fastened around a horse’s belly. — ORIGIN

Old Norse.

Glade • noun an open space in a wood or forest. — ORIGIN

of unknown origin.

Glair • noun 1 the white of an egg. 2 a glaze or size made of egg white. 3 any viscous substance like egg white. — ORIGIN 1300–50; ME glaire < OF: white of an egg < VL *clāria; cf. L clārus clear

Globule • noun a small round particle of a substance; a drop. — ORIGIN

Latin globulus ‘little globe’.

Glory Box • noun Austral./NZ a box in which a woman stores clothes and household items in preparation for marriage. Glottis • noun the part of the larynx consisting of the vocal cords and the slit-like opening between them.

— ORIGIN

Greek, from glotta, variant of glossa ‘tongue’.

Glower • verb have an angry or sullen look on one’s face; scowl. • noun an angry or sullen look. — ORIGIN perhaps a Scots variant of dialect glore, or from obsolete glow ‘to stare’, both possibly Scandinavian.

Gnarled • adjective knobbly, rough, and twisted, especially with age. — ORIGIN

variant of knarled, from obsolete knarre ‘rugged rock or stone’.

Gneiss • noun a metamorphic rock with a banded or foliated structure, typically consisting of feldspar, quartz, and mica. — ORIGIN

German, from High German gneisto ‘spark’ (because of the rock’s sheen).

Gnomic • adjective 1 in the form of short, pithy maxims or aphorisms. 2 enigmatic; ambiguous. — DERIVATIVES — ORIGIN

gnomically adverb.

from Greek gnome ‘thought, opinion’

Gob • noun informal, chiefly Brit. a person’s mouth. — ORIGIN

perhaps from Scottish Gaelic.

• noun 1 a lump or clot of a slimy or viscous substance. 2 (gobs of) N. Amer. a lot of. • verb (gobbed, gobbing) Brit. spit. — ORIGIN

Old French gobe ‘mouthful, lump’, from gober ‘to swallow, gulp’.

Gonad • noun a bodily organ that produces gametes; a testis or ovary. — DERIVATIVES — ORIGIN

gonadal /gonayd’l/ adjective.

Latin gonades, plural of gonas, from Greek gone ‘generation, seed’.

Goog • noun Austral./NZ informal an egg. — PHRASES — ORIGIN

(as) full as a goog very drunk.

from Scottish dialect goggie, a child’s word for an egg.

Gopher • noun 1 (also pocket gopher) a burrowing American rodent with pouches on its cheeks. 2 N. Amer. informal a ground squirrel. 3 variant spelling of GOFER. — ORIGIN perhaps from Canadian French gaufre ‘honeycomb’ (because the gopher ‘honeycombs’ the ground with its burrows).

Gormless • adjective Brit. informal stupid or slow-witted. — DERIVATIVES — ORIGIN

gormlessly adverb gormlessness noun.

from dialect gaum understanding, from an Old Norse word meaning ‘care, heed’.

Goshawk • noun a short-winged hawk resembling a large sparrowhawk. — ORIGIN

Old English, goose-hawk.

Go-slow • noun chiefly Brit. a form of industrial action in which work is delayed or slowed down. Gossamer • noun a fine, filmy substance consisting of cobwebs spun by small spiders. • adjective very fine and insubstantial. apparently from GOOSE + SUMMER, perhaps from the time of year around St Martin’s day (11 November) when geese were eaten and gossamer is often seen. — ORIGIN

Gourd • noun 1 the large hard-skinned fleshy fruit of a climbing or trailing plant. 2 a container made from the hollowed and dried skin of a gourd. — ORIGIN

Old French gourde, from Latin cucurbita.

Gourmand • noun 1 a person who enjoys eating, sometimes to excess. 2 a connoisseur of good food; a gourmet. — ORIGIN

Old French.

Gramma • noun any grass of the genus Bouteloua, of South America and western North America, as B. gracilis (blue grama).

— ORIGIN 1820–30, Americanism; < Sp grama < L grāmina, pl. of grāmen grass Grampus •

noun (pl. grampuses) a killer whale or other cetacean of the dolphin family.

— ORIGIN

alteration (by association with GRAND) of Old French grapois, from Latin crassus piscis

‘fat fish’. Grandiloquent • adjective pompous or extravagant in language, style, or manner. — DERIVATIVES — ORIGIN

grandiloquence noun grandiloquently adverb.

Latin grandiloquus ‘grand-speaking’.

Grapnel • noun 1 a grappling hook. 2 a small anchor with several flukes. — ORIGIN

Old French grapon, related to GRAPE.

Grey Market • noun 1 A market where a product is bought and sold outside of the manufacturer's authorized trading channels. 2. The unofficial trading of a company's shares, usually before they are issued in an initial public offering (IPO).

Griddle • noun a circular iron plate that is heated and used for cooking food. • verb cook on a griddle. — ORIGIN

Old French gredil, from Latin craticula ‘small hurdle’.

Grille • noun a grating or screen of metal bars or wires. — ORIGIN

French.

Grist • noun 1 corn that is ground to make flour. 2 malt crushed to make mash for brewing. — PHRASES — ORIGIN

grist to the mill useful experience or knowledge.

Old English, ‘grinding’.

Gristle • noun cartilage, especially when found as tough inedible tissue in meat. — DERIVATIVES — ORIGIN

gristly adjective.

Old English.

Grizzle • verb informal, chiefly Brit. (of a child) cry or whimper fretfully. — ORIGIN

of unknown origin.

Grommet • noun 1 a protective eyelet in a hole that a rope or cable passes through. 2 a tube surgically implanted in the eardrum to drain fluid from the middle ear. — ORIGIN

originally in sense circle of rope used as a fastening: from obsolete French gourmer ‘to

curb’. Groper • noun a person who gropes. Grotto • noun (pl. grottoes or grottos) a small picturesque cave, especially an artificial one in a park or garden. — ORIGIN

Italian grotta, from Greek krupte ‘vault’.

Grotty • adjective (grottier, grottiest) Brit. informal 1 unpleasant and of poor quality. 2 unwell. — DERIVATIVES — ORIGIN

grottiness noun.

from GROTESQUE.

Grouper (chiefly Austral./NZ also groper) • noun a large heavy-bodied fish found in warm seas. — ORIGIN

Portuguese garoupa, probably from a local term in South America.

Grouse • noun (pl. same) a medium-sized game bird with a plump body and feathered legs.

— ORIGIN

perhaps related to Latin gruta or to Old French grue ‘crane’.

• verb complain pettily; grumble. • noun a grumble or complaint. — ORIGIN

of unknown origin.

Gruel • noun a thin liquid food of oatmeal or other meal boiled in milk or water. — ORIGIN

Old French.

Guff • noun 1 informal trivial or worthless talk or ideas. 2 Scottish an unpleasant smell. — ORIGIN

imitative.

Guffaw • noun a loud and boisterous laugh. • verb laugh in such a way. — ORIGIN

imitative.

Gullet • noun the passage by which food passes from the mouth to the stomach; the oesophagus. — ORIGIN

Old French goulet ‘little throat’.

Gumption • noun informal shrewd initiative and resourcefulness. Gunboat Diplomacy • noun foreign policy supported by the use or threat of military force. Gunny • noun plural nies a strong, coarse material made commonly from jute, esp. for bags or sacks; burlap. — ORIGIN 1705–15; < Hindi gonī < Skt: sack, perh. orig. of hide; cf. GAUR

Gunwale • noun the upper edge or planking of the side of a boat. — PHRASES — ORIGIN

to the gunwales informal so as to be almost overflowing.

from GUN + WALE (because it was formerly used to support guns).

Gunyah • noun Austral. an Aboriginal bush hut. — ORIGIN

from an Aboriginal word.

Gusset • noun 1 a piece of material sewn into a garment to strengthen or enlarge a part of it, e.g. the crotch of an undergarment. 2 a bracket strengthening an angle of a structure. — ORIGIN

Old French gousset ‘small pod or shell’.

Guttural • adjective 1 (of a speech sound) produced in the throat. 2 (of speech) characterized by guttural sounds.

• noun a guttural consonant (e.g. k, g). — DERIVATIVES — ORIGIN

gutturally adverb.

Latin gutturalis, from guttur ‘throat’.

Gymkhana • noun an event comprising competitions on horseback, typically for children. — ORIGIN

Urdu, ‘racket court’.

Gyp • noun Brit. informal pain or discomfort. — ORIGIN

perhaps from gee-up (see GEE)

• verb (gypped, gypping) cheat or swindle. • noun a swindle. — ORIGIN

of unknown origin.

Gyroscope • noun a device, used to provide stability or maintain a fixed orientation, consisting of a wheel or disc spinning rapidly about an axis which is itself free to alter in direction. — DERIVATIVES

gyroscopic adjective.