grins

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of grin.

   The team exchanged knowing grins after the final whistle.

   Their grins gave away the surprise before anyone said a word.

   Note

   Most grins are smiles, but the plural also covers an obsolete noun: a grin was once a snare, another name for a gin, so in older texts grins may be traps rather than faces. The same spelling also serves as the present-tense verb (he grins). A determiner settles which is meant: their grins, two grins.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of grin.

   The toddler grins from ear to ear whenever the dog runs by.

   Whenever the camera turns to him, he grins like a fool.

   Note

   The present-tense verb works with or without an object. Usually it stands alone, as in she grins at the joke, but it can also take what the grin conveys or shapes: he grins his approval, he grins a crooked grin. An older, dated use pictures a snarling dog baring its teeth. In earlier writing, a creature that grins may be threatening rather than pleased.

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