greet
Formsgreets, greeting, greeted
Formsgreets, greeting, greeted
- 1To welcome someone in a friendly way, whether in person or through writing or some other means.
The host greeted each arrival with a handshake and a smile.
They greet every customer who walks through the door.
Similarhail
Note
The oldest and commonest of the words with this spelling, from Old English grētan. It takes a direct object, as in Shakespeare's Richard the Third: "the mayor of London comes to greet you." Its closest synonym is hail. The spelling also covers two unrelated words: an old word for "great" and a northern verb for weeping. In that second word, greeting means crying, not saying hello.
- 2To be perceived by someone, especially as the first thing a person encounters on arriving somewhere.
A chorus of birdsong greeted the hikers at the summit.
Empty shelves greet shoppers during every shortage.
Similarmeet, welcome, face, confront
Note
In this use, the greeting is done by things such as a dawn, muggy heat, or a notice at a church entrance. The person is usually the object (it greets you, it greeted her eyes) or the subject of a passive (those entering are greeted by wire fences). The construction suits first impressions on arrival, and it carries no warmth: what greets you may be welcome or grim.
- 3
- 4
- 5To weep; to shed tears in grief or distress.
She greeted quietly at her father's graveside.
Tired children greet when they cannot have their way.
Oppositelaugh
Note
A regional verb from a different Old English source: a blend of grētan and grēotan, both meaning "to weep, lament." It lives on in Scotland and Northern England with an old strong past tense. Lewis Grassic Gibbon's Cloud Howe (1933) has "she grat like a bairn." In James Kelman's Kieron Smith, Boy (2008), "started greeting" means started crying, so a Scottish greeting may be tears rather than hello.
- 6Great; large in size, degree, or importance.
A greet storm swept across the highlands that winter.
The chieftain commanded greet respect among his people.
Note
A separate word from the verb of welcome. It comes from Middle English greet or grete, an older form of great. Outside Scotland it has long dropped out of use, so in modern writing it signals Scottish speech. It forms its comparative and superlative with more and most (more greet, most greet) rather than with the -er and -est endings that great takes.
Less common meanings
- 7To meet someone and exchange salutations.
The knights greeted courteously before the tournament began.
There greet in silence, as the dead are wont, And sleep in peace.
c. 1588, William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”Note
Here the verb takes no object, and the greeting runs both ways, with each party saluting the other. Shakespeare uses it this way in Titus Andronicus: "There greet in silence, as the dead are wont." That intransitive use is now archaic. Modern English keeps the idea but supplies the object, so people greet each other, or greet one another.
- 8Mourning and weeping; loud lamentation over a death or other loss.
Note
The noun that went with the northern verb for weeping. It names grief as a whole rather than one mourner's tears. It is obsolete and uncountable, so it never takes a plural. A reader who meets it in older writing should not confuse it with greeting: nothing about it is a welcome, and its setting is a death or another loss.
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Practice
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Origins
From Middle English greten, from Old English grētan, which goes back to Proto-West Germanic *grōtijan and Proto-Germanic *grōtijaną.
From Middle English greet, grete, meaning "great".
From a blend of two Old English verbs meaning "to weep, lament": grētan/grǣtan (from Proto-West Germanic *grātan) and grēotan (from *greutan). It was possibly reinforced in Northern England and Scotland by Old Norse gráta, source also of Danish græde, Norwegian gråte, and Swedish gråta, all meaning "to cry, to weep".