Slang and its analogues past and present, volume 3 (of 7)

by John Stephen Farmer; William Ernest Henley

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie. Gale-bon-temps. A merry grig.

1673. Wycherley, Gent. Danc. Master, i., 1., wks. (1713) 251. Hah, ah, ah, cousin, dou art a merry grigg—ma foy.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Grig s.v. A merry grig; a merry fellow.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 43. The statesman that talks on the Woolsack so big, Could hustle to the open as merry as a grig.

1765. Goldsmith, Essays VI. I grew as merry as a grig, and laughed at every word that was spoken.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xix, p. 159. The learned gentleman … is as merry as a grig at a French watering-place.

2. (thieves’).—A farthing; a gigg (q.v.). For synonyms, see Fadge.

1680. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Not a grig did he tip me, not a farthing would he give me.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 15. ‘He shall go through the whole course,’ replied Blueskin, with a ferocious grin, ‘unless he comes down to the last grig.’