Great, grāt, adj. large: long continued: superior: distinguished: highly gifted: noble: mighty: sublime: of high rank: chief: proud, arrogant: weighty: difficult: important: pregnant, teeming: indicating one degree more remote in the direct line of descent, as Great′-grand′father, Great′-grand′son.—adj. Great′-bel′lied (Shak.), pregnant.—n. Great′coat, an overcoat.—v.t. Great′en (Browning), to make great.—v.i. to become great.—ns. Great′-grand′child, the child of a grandchild; Great′-grand′mother, the mother of a grand-parent.—adj. Great′-heart′ed, having a great or noble heart: high-spirited: noble.—adv. Great′ly.—ns. Great′ness; Great′-prim′er (see Primer); Greats, the final examination in the Honours Schools at Oxford, &c.; Great′-un′cle, usually grand-uncle, a grandfather's or grandmother's brother.—Great Dane, one of a breed of large close-haired dogs from Denmark, a boar-hound; Great Powers, the chief countries of Europe—France, Germany, Russia, Great Britain, Austro-Hungary; Great schism, the division between the Latin and Greek Churches, begun in the 9th century, and culminating in 1054; Great Sea, the Mediterranean; Great unwashed, an absurd term sometimes applied to the working classes generally.—Greater Britain, the whole colonial empire of Great Britain.—The great, people of rank. [A.S. greát; Dut. groot, Ger. gross; perh. allied to grand, gross, grow.]
Greave, grēv, n. (Spens.) a groove, a grove.
Greave. See Greeve.
Greaves, grēvz, n.pl. the sediment of melted tallow pressed into cakes for dogs' food.—Also Graves. [Prov. Sw. grevar, tallow-leavings; cf. Ger. griebe.]
Greaves, grēvz, n.pl. ancient armour for the legs, of leather, &c. [O. Fr. greves—greve, shin-bone.]
Grebe, grēb, n. an aquatic bird, having a long conical beak, short wings, and no tail. [Fr. grèbe; from Celt., as in Bret. krib, a comb, W. crib, crest.]
Grecian, grē′shan, adj. pertaining to Greece.—n. a native of Greece: one well versed in the Greek language and literature: (B.) a Hellenising Jew, or Jew who spoke Greek: one of the senior boys of Christ's Hospital: (slang) an Irish labourer newly over.—v.t. Grē′cise, to make Grecian: to translate into Greek.—v.i. to speak Greek.—n. Grē′cism, an idiom of the Greek language.—adj. Grē′co-Rō′man, of or pertaining to both Greece and Rome, esp. to the art cultivated by Greeks under Roman domination (see also Wrestling).—Grecian bend, a foolish mode of walking with a slight bend forward, at one time affected by a few women who fondly thought to imitate the pose of a figure like the Venus of Milo. [Fr. Grec—L. Græcus—Gr. Graikos.]
Grecque, grek, n. a vessel with a perforated bottom for making coffee without grounds: a Greek fret.
Gree, grē, n. (Spens.) good-will, favour: the prize of the day.—v.i. (Shak.) to agree. [O. Fr. gre—L. gratus, pleasing. See Agree.]
Gree, grē, n. degree, rank: a step:—pl. Grees, Grece, Grese, steps—in turn used as a sing. and spelt Greece, Greese, Griece, Grize, a flight of steps, a staircase, a degree (Grees′ing, Gres′sing, and even Grē′cian are obs. forms).—adj. Grieced, having steps. [O. Fr. gre—L. gradus. See Grade.]