grunt
Noun · VerbOpen English WordNet
Verb (1)grunts, grunted, grunting
Noun (3)grunts
- the short low gruff noise of the kind made by hogsSynonyms: oinkType of noise
- an unskilled or low-ranking soldier or other worker“infantrymen in Vietnam were called ‘grunts’”“he went from grunt to chairman in six years”Type of unskilled person
- medium-sized tropical marine food fishes that utter grunting sounds when caughtType of percoid fish, percoidKinds porkfish, margate, pompon, pigfish, cottonwick, Spanish grunt, tomtate, sailor's-choiceMember of Haemulidae, family Haemulidae
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: OE. grunten; akin to As. grunian, G. grunzen, Dan. grynte, Sw. grymta; all prob. of imitative; or perh. akin to E. groan.
To make a deep, short noise, as a hog; to utter a short groan or a deep guttural sound.
Who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life.— William Shakespeare
Grunting ox Zoology, the yak.
1. A deep, guttural sound, as of a hog.
2. Zoology Any one of several species of American food fishes, of the genus Haemulon, allied to the snappers, as, the black grunt (Haemulon Plumieri), and the redmouth grunt (Haemulon aurolineatus), of the Southern United States; — also applied to allied species of the genera Pomadasys, Orthopristis, and Pristopoma. Called also pigfish, squirrel fish, and grunter; — so called from the noise it makes when taken.
3. A U. S. infantryman; — used especially of those fighting in the war in Vietnam. slang
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54 · with additions: GCIDE editors