grunt

American  

[gruhnt] / grʌnt /

verb (used without object)

1. to utter the deep, guttural sound characteristic of a hog.

2. to utter a similar sound.

3. to grumble, as in discontent.

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verb (used with object)

1. to express with a grunt.

noun

1. a sound of grunting.

2. New England Cooking. a dessert, typically of cherries, peaches, or apples sweetened and spiced, and topped with biscuit dough.

3. any food fish of the family Pomadasyidae (Haemulidae), found chiefly in tropical and subtropical seas, that emits grunting sounds.

4. Slang. a soldier, especially an infantryman.

5. Slang. a common or unskilled worker; laborer.

grunt British  

/ ɡrʌnt /

verb

1. (intr) (esp of pigs and some other animals) to emit a low short gruff noise

2. (when tr, may take a clause as object) to express something gruffly

   he grunted his answer

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noun

1. the characteristic low short gruff noise of pigs, etc, or a similar sound, as of disgust

2. any of various mainly tropical marine sciaenid fishes, such as Haemulon macrostomum ( Spanish grunt ), that utter a grunting sound when caught

3. slang an infantry soldier or US Marine, esp in the Vietnam War

Other Word Forms

• gruntingly adverb

Etymology

Origin of grunt

First recorded before 900; Middle English grunten, Old English grunnettan, frequentative of grunian “to grunt”; cognate with German grunzen, Latin grunnīre

Example Sentences

Dalton grunts as he picks up his amp.

From Literature

As usual, Jonah helped Dad with the grunt work — tearing stuff out and hammering stuff back in.

From Literature

Plus, why finance and tech bros are feuding over the Bloomberg terminal and how tech workers are using bots to do their grunt work.

From The Wall Street Journal

No, she did, she really did, groaning and grunting and rumbling—she had a whole language of her own!

From Literature

Tech workers’ new obsession is watching bots do their grunt work.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• groan