1656. Brome, Jovial Crew. Here’s grunter and bleater, with tib-of-the-buttry.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Grunter, s.v. A sucking pig.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Grunter, s.v.
1841. Comic Almanack, p. 266. And the squeaking grunter is loose on the green.
1847–50. Tennyson, Princess, v. 26. A draggled mawkin, That tends her bristled grunters in the sludge. [[228]]
2. (common).—A sixpence. In quot. 1785 = 1s. Cf., Hog and Pig.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, Grunter, s.v. A shilling.
1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, bk. III., ch. iii., p. 267. One of the men … had only taken three ‘twelvers’ [shillings] and a grunter.
1885. Household Words, 20 June. p. 155. The sixpence … is variously known as a ‘pig,’ a ‘sow’s baby,’ a grunter, and ‘half a hog.’
3. (common).—A policeman; a trap (q.v.); a pig (q.v. sense 2). For synonyms, see Beak.