Middle English Dictionary Entry
grenchen v.
Entry Info
| Forms | grenchen v. Also grinchen, crenchen. |
| Etymology | Origin unknown, perhaps a blend of crenǧen & grinten, but also cp. MnE (17th cent. and dialectal) cranch, modern Scottish crinch, 'to gnash (one's teeth).' |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
To make a grinding or chattering noise with one's teeth; ~ with teth; also transitive to gnash (one's teeth).
Associated quotations
- ?a1440 Chaucer CT.Sum.(Paris angl.39)D.2161 : Grinched [Heng: He grynt with his teeth].
- c1450 Chaucer CT.Sum.(ChU 564)D.2161 : Grencheth [Corp-O: he grynded his teeþ, so was he wroþ].
- (a1460) Bokenham Sts. (Adv Abbotsford B3)8.196 (v.1:p.91) : Notwithstondyng this resonable rebuke, thei coude no more ben asshamed than is a bolde frontuous strumpett, but, blyndid in her hertis, crenchid with her teth vpon hym.
- (a1460) Bokenham Sts. (Adv Abbotsford B3)32.165 (v.1:p.240) : How many lyen and chyveren and quaken and crenchyn with her teeth [L (Graesse, p.131): dentibus stridentes] for colde?
- (a1460) Bokenham Sts. (Adv Abbotsford B3)54.204 (v.1:p.339) : Devels appierid vnto hym in sundry and horrible likenessis and grenchid her teeth vpon hym [L (Graesse, p.188): dentibus in eum fremebant].