grime

Etymology

Middle English grim (“dirt or soot covering the face”) from a specialized note of Old English grīma (“mask”), from Proto-Germanic *grīmô (“mask”). Possibly influenced by Danish grim (“soot, grime”), Old Dutch grijmsel, Middle Dutch grime, Middle Low German greme (“dirt”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɹaɪm/
• Rhymes: -aɪm

Noun

grime (uncountable)

1. Dirt, grease, soot, etc. that is ingrained and difficult to remove.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 14, in The China Governess‎:

     Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall.  Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime.

   Underneath all that soot, dirt and grime is the true beauty of the church in soft shades of sandstone.

2. (music) A genre of urban music that emerged in London, England, in the early 2000s, primarily a development of UK garage, dancehall, and hip hop.

Verb

grime (third-person singular simple present grimes, present participle griming, simple past and past participle grimed)

1. To begrime; to cake with dirt
   • 1862, Edwin Waugh, Home-Life of the Lancashire Factory Folk during the Cotton Famine‎:

     All grimed with coaldust, they swing along the street with their dinner baskets and cans in their hands, chattering merrily.

   • 1920, Harold Bindloss, Lister's Great Adventure‎:

     Fog from the river rolled up the street and the windows were grimed by soot, but Cartwright had not turned on the electric light.

   • 1918, Harold Bindloss, The Buccaneer Farmer‎:

     His skin was grimed with dust, for he had ridden hard in scorching heat, and was anxious and impatient to get on.

Anagrams

• gerim

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡʁim/
• Homophones: griment, grimes

Verb

grime

1. first-person singular present indicative of grimer
2. third-person singular present indicative of grimer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of grimer
4. first-person singular present subjunctive of grimer
5. second-person singular imperative of grimer

Noun

grime m (uncountable)

1. (music) grime (a genre of urban music)

Alternative forms

• gryme, greim

Etymology

Of Flemish origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡrəi̯m/

Verb

grime (third-person singular present grimes, present participle grimein, past grimet, past participle grimet)

1. (archaic) To sprinkle, fleck, or to cover with a layer of fine material (e.g. snow, dust).

Noun

grime m (plural grimes)

1. grime (music genre)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡrimə/

Noun

grime c

1. anger, wrath