Search

[grits] /grɪts/

noun, (used with a singular or plural verb)
1.
Also called hominy grits. coarsely ground hominy, boiled and sometimes then fried, eaten as a breakfast dish or as a side dish with meats.
2.
grain hulled and coarsely ground.
[grit] /grɪt/
noun
1.
abrasive particles or granules, as of sand or other small, coarse impurities found in the air, food, water, etc.
2.
firmness of character; indomitable spirit; pluck:
She has a reputation for grit and common sense.
3.
a coarse-grained siliceous rock, usually with sharp, angular grains.
4.
British. .
5.
sand or other fine grainy particles eaten by fowl to aid in digestion.
verb (used with object), gritted, gritting.
6.
to cause to grind or grate together.
verb (used without object), gritted, gritting.
7.
to make a scratchy or slightly grating sound, as of sand being walked on; grate.
Idioms
8.
grit one’s teeth, to show tenseness, anger, or determination by or as if by clamping or grinding the teeth together.
/ɡrɪts/
plural noun
1.
hulled and coarsely ground grain
2.
(US) See hominy grits
/ɡrɪt/
noun
1.
small hard particles of sand, earth, stone, etc
2.
Also called gritstone. any coarse sandstone that can be used as a grindstone or millstone
3.
the texture or grain of stone
4.
indomitable courage, toughness, or resolution
5.
(engineering) an arbitrary measure of the size of abrasive particles used in a grinding wheel or other abrasive process
verb grits, gritting, gritted
6.
to clench or grind together (two objects, esp the teeth)
7.
to cover (a surface, such as icy roads) with grit
/ɡrɪt/
noun, adjective (Canadian)
1.
an informal word for Liberal
n.

plural of grit “coarsely ground grain,” Old English grytt (plural grytta) “coarse meal, groats, grits,” from Proto-Germanic *grutja-, from the same root as grit, the two words having influenced one another in sound development.

In American English, corn-based grits and hominy (q.v.) were used interchangeably in Colonial times. Later, hominy meant whole kernels that had been skinned but not ground, but in the U.S. South, hominy meant skinned kernels that could be ground coarsely to make grits. In New Orleans, whole kernels are big hominy and ground kernels little hominy.
n.

Old English greot “sand, dust, earth, gravel,” from Proto-Germanic *greutan “tiny particles of crushed rock” (cf. Old Saxon griot, Old Frisian gret, Old Norse grjot “rock, stone,” German Grieß “grit, sand”), from PIE *ghreu- “rub, grind” (cf. Lithuanian grudas “corn, kernel,” Old Church Slavonic gruda “clod”). Sense of “pluck, spirit” first recorded American English, 1808.
v.

“make a grating sound,” 1762, probably from grit (n.). Related: Gritted; gritting.

noun

verb

To eat (1930s+ Black)

Related Terms

hit the dirt

[food senses at least partially fr hominy grits, although grit was British military slang for ”food” in the 1930s; Southern dialect sense probably ironically fr Civil War use of the expression true Yankee grit by Northern soldiers and writers]