grin

[grin]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR grin ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used without object), grinned, grin·ning.

to smile broadly, especially as an indication of pleasure, amusement, or the like.

to draw back the lips so as to show the teeth, as a snarling dog or a person in pain.

to show or be exposed through an opening, crevice, etc.

verb (used with object), grinned, grin·ning.

to express or produce by grinning: The little boy grinned his approval of the gift.

noun

a broad smile.

the act of producing a broad smile.

the act of withdrawing the lips and showing the teeth, as in anger or pain.

Origin of grin

before 1000; Middle English grinnen, grennen, Old English grennian; cognate with Old High German grennan to mutter

Related formsgrin·ner, noungrin·ning·ly, adverb

Synonyms for grin

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR grin ON THESAURUS.COM

1. See laugh.

grin

[grin]

noun

Chiefly Scot. a snare like a running noose.

verb (used with object), grinned, grin·ning.

to catch in a nooselike snare.

Origin of grin

before 900; Middle English grin(e), Old English grin, gryn

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for grin

smirk, beam, simper, crack

Examples from the Web for grin

Contemporary Examples of grin

Then, with a grin, “And we all know how degenerate those people are.”
‘Mozart in the Jungle’: Inside Amazon’s Brave New World of Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music
Kevin Fallon
December 23, 2014
Viewers leave with a grin, but are no wiser about the frightening symptoms of ALS.
#IceBucketChallenge Wisdom From 'Jackass' Steve-O
Kevin Zawacki
August 21, 2014
“It will only be a moderate size disaster,” Kleiman says with a grin.
The U.N.’s Half-Baked Weed Protest
Abby Haglage
March 6, 2014
Besides,” she adds with the grin of a confident fashionista, “people are going to want to wear the clothes that I wear anyway.
Model Melanie Gaydos’s Fight for High Fashion
Hugh Ryan
February 3, 2014
The young infantryman in me beamed and I started to grin, thinking about the glory.
Writing About War: I Hate It but Can’t Stop
Don Gomez
September 2, 2013

Historical Examples of grin

Then suddenly that face cracked, broadened, spread to a grin.
Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates
Howard Pyle
With a grin and a swagger of pure bravado Mulready turned and obeyed.
The Black Bag
Louis Joseph Vance
And the devil did grin, for his darling sin Is pride that apes humility.
Reflections
Francois Duc De La Rochefoucauld
Or is he recognized as colored only in respect to his peculiar wearin' of the grin?
Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 14, July 2, 1870
Various
I saw them grin at the little man and spit tobacco juice his way.
The Harbor
Ernest Poole

British Dictionary definitions for grin

grin

verb grins, grinning or grinned

to smile with the lips drawn back revealing the teeth or express (something) by such a smileto grin a welcome

(intr) to draw back the lips revealing the teeth, as in a snarl or grimace

grin and bear it informal to suffer trouble or hardship without complaint

noun

a broad smile

a snarl or grimace

Derived Formsgrinner, noungrinning, adjective, noun

Word Origin for grin

Old English grennian; related to Old High German grennen to snarl, Old Norse grenja to howl; see grunt

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for grin

Old English grennian "show the teeth" (in pain or anger), common Germanic (cf. Old Norse grenja "to howl," grina "to grin;" Dutch grienen "to whine;" German greinen "to cry"), from PIE root *ghrei- "be open." Sense of "bare the teeth in a broad smile" is late 15c., perhaps via the notion of "forced or unnatural smile." Related: Grinned; grinning.

1630s, from grin (v.).