grisly
adjEtymology
From Middle English grisely, grysly, grissliȝ, griselich, grislich, from Old English grisliċ (“grisly, horrible; dreadful, horrid”), from grīsan (“to shudder with horror; to tremble, to be terrified; to make tremble, to terrify; to agrise, grise”) (unattested but implied in āgrīsan) + -lic (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘characteristic of, pertaining to’). The word may also be an aphetic form of Old English ongrislic, agrisenliċ, the past participle of agrīsan (“to agrise”). Compare Danish grusom, Swedish gräslig, Middle Dutch grezelijc (modern Dutch griezelig), Middle High German grisenlich (modern German grässlich, grausen).
Definitions
Horrifyingly repellent
Horrifyingly repellent; gruesome, terrifying.
- The photographs of the killings depict a grisly scene.
- Magnes and many thinges attractive are, / But nothing ſo allective under ſkyes, / As that ſame dainty amiable ſtarre, / That none but griſly mouth of hell defyes.
- Then clad in cloake of mistie fogges the darke night vp did come, / And with grim grislie looke did seeme to bid me get me home; […]
Obsolete form of grizzly.
- old squirrels that turn grisly
- The animals found in this province are, deer, elk, buffalo, cabrie, the grisly black bear, and wild horses.
Misspelling of gristly.
›+ 2 more definitionsshow fewer
Obsolete form of grizzly (“type of bear”).
In a horrible or terrible manner
In a horrible or terrible manner; in a terrifying way.
The neighborhood
- neighborgrise
Derived
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for grisly. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA