grin
Pluralgrins
Pluralgrins
- 1A broad smile in which the lips part to reveal the teeth.
A mischievous grin crossed her face as she revealed the surprise.
The children flashed toothy grins at the camera.
Note
The word has always been about the teeth rather than the mood. Old English grennian is related to groan, and Danish grine means both "to show one's teeth" and "to laugh"; that double edge survives in the snarling sense. As a noun it pairs with verbs of sudden arrival: a wide grin breaks across a face, or someone breaks into a grin. Wide and broad are its usual companions.
- 2
- 3To communicate something by smiling with the teeth showing.
He grinned his agreement without saying a word.
The twins grin their delight whenever cake appears.
Note
Here the object names what the grin conveys, not the grin itself: she grinned pleasure, he grinned his agreement. It follows the same pattern as nodding one's agreement. Keep it apart from the expression-making use. There the object is the face that is made, a smile or a sneer. Here it is the feeling or message behind it.
- 4To produce a particular facial expression, such as a smile or sneer, by showing the teeth.
She grinned a wicked smile as the plan came together.
Performers grin exaggerated expressions to reach the back row.
Similarflash
Note
In this construction the object is the expression itself: grin a broad smile, grin a cruel sneer. The noun largely repeats what the verb already implies, so it usually carries an adjective that says what kind of face is meant, such as broad, cruel or wicked. It differs from grinning a feeling, where the object is pleasure or agreement rather than the smile.
Less common meanings
- 5To draw back the lips and bare the teeth, as a snarling dog does.
The cornered hound grinned, its lips drawn back over its fangs.
The pangs of death do make him grin.
1591, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt,”Similarsnarl
Note
An older, harsher grin: lips drawn back from the teeth in pain or menace, with no amusement in it. Shakespeare's "The pangs of death do make him grin" describes agony. Richard Jefferies's stuffed fox of 1879 "grinned so fiercely" in a ghastly rage. When an older text uses the word, check whether the face is laughing or snarling, because modern readers will assume laughing.
- 6A snare or trap for catching birds and small game.
He checked every grin along the hedgerow at first light.
The gamekeeper found a hare struggling in one of his grins.
Note
A different word entirely that happens to share the spelling. Old English grin meant "snare, noose", probably from a Germanic word for guts or intestine, and it is related to yarn, not to the smiling grin. It belongs only to older writing, alongside its synonym gin. A reader who meets "a grin" in a hunting context should think trap, not smile.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
From Middle English grinnen, from Old English grennian, going back through Proto-West Germanic *grannjōn to Proto-Germanic *granjōną. It is related to 'groan', and compares with Middle High German grennen ('to mutter, complain') and Danish grine ('to show one's teeth, to laugh').
From Middle English grin, from Old English grin ('snare, noose'), of uncertain origin, but probably from the merger of Proto-West Germanic *garni and *garnī ('intestine'), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *garniz, *garnō ('guts, intestine'). It is related to English 'yarn'.