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.
"That's some o' Robbie Boath's wark," he says in laich till himsel', wi' an awfu' girn on his face.
From My Man Sandy by Salmond, J. B.
And whoso, having warnèd been, Refuseth still to turn, Behind his shadow, shrunken mean, A poring spectre shall be seen With livid stare and girn.
From My Beautiful Lady. Nelly Dale by Morley, Henry
Can He no shift it frae the tae airm to the tither, but the bairn maun girn?
From The Elect Lady by MacDonald, George
He can girn a laugh as well ’s onybody at a raight divil’s jest.
From Wuthering Heights by Brontë, Emily
He can only bide in his hole like a toothless tyke, lame and blind; and girn his gums at the robbers that spoil his master's house.
From The Men of the Moss-Hags Being a history of adventure taken from the papers of William Gordon of Earlstoun in Galloway by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)
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.
