grandparents

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of grandparent.

   The children spent every summer with their grandparents on the farm.

   My grandparents emigrated from Italy in the 1950s.

   Note

   The ordinary plural of a closed compound: the -s goes on the end, never inside, so the grand- element stays unchanged. The same spelling also serves the verb's he-or-she form, so in "my grandparents visit" it is a noun, while in "she grandparents twice a week" it is a verb. The word just before it usually settles which one you are reading.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of grandparent.

   Note

   A noun pressed into service as a verb: to grandparent is to do what a grandparent does, and grandfather can be used as a verb in the same way. It works with an object (she grandparents two toddlers) or without one (he grandparents from afar). The -s marks a singular subject. With they or a plural noun, the bare form grandparent returns.

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