1608. Middleton, Family of Love, B. 1. I had a receipt for the grincomes in his own hand.
1635. Jones, Adrasta or the Woman’s Spleen, c. 2. You must know, sir, in a nobleman ’tis abusive; no, in him the serpigo, in a knight the grincomes, in a gentleman the Neapolitan scabb, and in a serving man or artificer the plaine pox.
1637. Massinger, Guardian, iv. The comfort is, I am now secure from the grincomes, I can lose nothing that way.
Grind, subs. (common).—1. A walk; a constitutional: e.g., ‘to take a grind’ or (University) ‘to go on the Grandchester (or Gog Magog Hills) grind.’
2. (common).—Daily routine; hard or distasteful work.
1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, pt. III., ch. xi. To a University man, a grind did not possess any reading signification, but a riding one. In fact, it was a steeple-chase, slightly varying in its details according to the college that patronised the pastime.
1870. London Figaro, 28 July. The world is a wearisome grind, love, Nor shirk we our turn at the wheel.
1880. A. Trollope, The Duke’s Children, ch. xxv. ‘Isn’t it a great grind, sir?’ asked Silverbridge. ‘A very great grind, as you call it. And there may be the grind and not the success. But——’
1880. One and All, 27 Mar., p. 207. Soul-weary of life’s horrid grind, I long to come to thee.
3. (schools’).—Study; reading up for an examination; also a plodding student, i.e., a grinder.