grutch

• gruch

The verb is from Middle English grucchen (attested since c. 1200), from Old French grouchier (“to grumble”), of unknown origin, perhaps from Germanic, and likely of onomatopoeic origin. The noun is from Middle English grucche, from the verb; it is attested since about 1400. See also grudge, grouch, grouse.

grutch (third-person singular simple present grutches, present participle grutching, simple past and past participle grutched)

1. (intransitive) To murmur, complain.
   • 1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, The White Company:

     "But I am a man who may grutch and grumble, but when I have set my face to do a thing I will not turn my back upon it until it be done."

2. (obsolete) To grudge.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?)

grutch (plural grutches)

1. A complaint.
   • 1663, Hudibras, by Samuel Butler, part 1, canto 1:

     In it he melted lead for bullets, \ To shoot at foes, and sometimes pullets; To whom he bore so fell a grutch, He ne'er gave quarter t' any such.