groom
UK /ɡɹuːm/ · US /ɡɹum/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms grooms grooming groomed Groome
- noun A man who is about to marry.
- noun A person who looks after horses.
- noun One of several officers of the English royal household, chiefly in the lord chamberlain's department. “the groom of the chamber; the groom of the stole”
- noun (archaic) A male servant, or more generally, a common man.
- noun A brushing or cleaning, as of a dog or horse. “Give the mare a quick groom before you take her out.”
- verb To attend to one's appearance and clothing.
- verb (transitive) To care for (horses or other animals) by brushing and cleaning them.
- verb (transitive, obsolete) To care for (horses or other animals) by feeding, currying and tending to them.
- verb (transitive) To prepare (someone) for an event
- verb (transitive) To prepare (someone) for election or appointment.
- verb (transitive, law) To gain, or attempt to gain, the trust of a child or vulnerable person in order to take advantage of or exploit them, especially sexually (if under the age of consent).
- verb (transitive, software engineering) In agile software development, to review and prioritize the items in the development backlog.
- verb (transitive) To prepare (a ski slope) for skiers by packing down the snow.
- proper noun An English surname originating as an occupation for a servant.
- proper noun A town in Carson County, Texas, United States.
Synonyms
bridegroom fettler horsekeeper ostler sais mafoo primp stableman stableboy hostler prepare train dress curry neaten
Etymology
1604, short for bridegroom (“husband-to-be”), from Middle English brydgrome, alteration (with intrusive r) of earlier bridegome (“bridegroom”), from Old English brȳdguma (“bridegroom”), from brȳd (“bride”) + guma (“man, hero”). In Middle English, the second element was re-analyzed as or influenced by grom, grome (“attendant”). Guma derives from Proto-Germanic *gumô (“man, person”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰǵʰm̥mō; it is cognate to Icelandic gumi (cf. Icelandic brúðgumi) and Norwegian gume and, ultimately, human.
From Middle English grom, grome (“man-child, boy, youth”), of uncertain origin. Apparently related to Middle Dutch grom (“boy”), Old Icelandic grómr, gromr (“man, manservant, boy”), Old French gromme (“manservant”), and also to Middle Dutch grom (“fish guts”), Middle Low German grôm (“fish guts”), from the same Proto-Germanic root. Possibly from Old English *grōm, from Proto-West Germanic *grōm (“swollen belly, stomach tumour, womb-child, fish roe, fish guts”), from Proto-Germanic *grōaną (“to grow”).
Alternative etymology describes Middle English grom, grome as an alteration of gome (“man”) with an intrusive r (also found in bridegroom, hoarse, cartridge, etc.), with the Middle Dutch and Old Icelandic cognates following similar variation of their respective forms.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A boy or young man; a waiter; a servant; especially, a man or boy who has charge of horses, or the stable. Spenser.
- noun One of several officers of the English royal household, chiefly in the lord chamberlain's department; as, the groom of the chamber; the groom of the stole.
- verb To tend or care for, or to curry or clean, as a, horse.
Etymology [Cf. Scot. grome, groyme, grume, gome, guym, man, lover, OD. grom boy, youth; perh. the r is an insertion as in E. bridegroom, and the word is the same as AS. guma man. See Bridegroom.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “groom”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details