girn
1 Americanverb (used with or without object)
noun
verb
-
to snarl
-
to grimace; pull grotesque faces
-
to complain fretfully or peevishly
Etymology
Origin of girn
C14: a variant of grin
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Say you so," cried the bailie, remembering the offence done to his family, "say you so; and that he is in a girn that wants but a manly hand to grip him.
From Ringan Gilhaize or The Covenanters by Galt, John
It's nae laughing to girn in a widdy.
From The Proverbs of Scotland by Hislop, Alexander
She has a way of glowerin' a body and giving a bit of a girn to her mouth.
From The Northern Iron by Birmingham, George A.
What gies him that side-look, that fearfu girn, an' his slouchin walk!
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Vol. XX by Leighton, Alexander
The girn, my informant said, was never out its face, and it yammered on night and day.
From Folk Lore Superstitious Beliefs in the West of Scotland within This Century by Napier, James
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
