Chapter Grog to Guards of the Pole of G by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Grog to Guards of the Pole

Grog Rum and water, cold without. Admiral Vernon was called Old Grog by his sailors because he was accustomed to walk the deck in rough weather in a grogram cloak. As he was the first to serve water in the rum on board ship, the mixture went by the name of grog. Six-water grog is one part rum to six parts of water. Grog, in common parlance, is any mixture of spirits and water, either hot or cold.

Grog Blossoms Blotches on the face that are produced by over-indulgence of grog.

Grogram A coarse kind of taffety, stiffened with gum. A corruption of the French gros-grain.

"Gossips in grief and grograms clad."
Praed: The Troubadour, canto i. stanza 5.

Groined Ceiling One in which the arches are divided or intersected. (Swedish, grena, to divide.)

Grommet, Gromet, Grumet or Grummet. A younker on board ship. In Smith's Sea Grammar we are told that "younkers are the young men whose duty it is to take in the topsails, or top the yard for furling the sails or slinging the yards. ..." "Sailors," he says, "are the elder men." Gromet is the Flemish grom (a boy), with the diminutive. It appears in bride-groom, etc. Also a ring of rope made by laying a single strand. (Dana: Seaman's Manual, p. 98.) Also a powder-wad.

Grongar Hill in South Wales, has been rendered famous by Dyer's poem called Grongar Hill.

Groom of the Stole Keeper of the stole or state-robe. His duty, originally, was to invest the king in his state-robe, but he had also to hand him his shirt when he dressed. The office, when a queen reigns, is termed Mistress of the Robes, but Queen Anne had her "Groom of the Stole." (Greek, stole, a garment.) (See Bridegroom.)

Gross (See Advowson .)

Grosted or Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, in the reign of Henry III., the author of some two hundred works. He was accused of dealings in the black arts, and the Pope ordered a letter to be written to the King of England, enjoining him to disinter the bones of the too-wise bishop and burn them to powder. (Died 1253.)

"None a deeper knowledge boasted,
Since Hodgé, Bacon, and Bob Grosted."
Butler: Hudibras, ii. 3.

Grotesque (2 syl.) means in "Grotto style." Classical ornaments so called were found in the 13th century in grottoes, that is, excavations made in the baths of Titus and in other Roman buildings. These ornaments abound in fanciful combinations, and hence anything outré is termed grotesque.

Grotta del Cane (Naples). The Dog's Cave, so called from the practice of sending dogs into it to show visitors how the carbonic acid gas near the floor of the cave kills them.

Grotto Pray remember the grotto. July 25 new style, and August 5 old style, is the day dedicated to St. James the Greater; and the correct thing to do in days of yore was to stick a shell in your hat or coat, and pay a visit on that day to the shrine of St. James of Compostella. Shell grottoes with an image of the saint were erected for the behoof of those who could not afford such pilgrimage, and the keeper of it reminded the passer-by to remember it was St. James's Day, and not to forget their offering to the saint.

Grotto of Ephesus (The). The test of chastity. E. Bulwer-Lytton, in his Tales of Miletus (iii.), tells us that near the statue of Diana is a grotto, and if, when a woman enters it, she is not chaste, discordant sounds are heard and the woman is never seen more; if, however, musical sounds are heard, the woman is a pure virgin and comes forth from the grotto unharmed.

Ground (Anglo-Saxon, grund.)
   It would suit me down to the ground. Wholly and entirely.
   To break ground. To be the first to commence a project, etc.; to take the first step in an undertaking.
   To gain ground. To make progress; to be improving one's position or prospects of success.
   To hold one's ground. To maintain