gross

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See also: Gross, gròss, groß, and Groß

English[edit]

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Etymology[edit]

From Middle English gross (whole, entire; flagrant, monstrous), from Old French gros (big, thick, large, stout), from Late Latin grossus (thick in diameter, coarse), and Medieval Latin grossus (great, big), influenced by Old High German grōz (big, thick, coarse), from Proto-Germanic *grautaz (large, great, thick, coarse grained, unrefined), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (to rub, to stroke, to grind).

Cognate with French grossier (gross). See also French dialectal grôt, groût (large) (Berry) and grô (large) (Burgundy), Catalan gros (big), Dutch groot (big, large), German groß (large), English great. More at great.

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

gross (comparative grosser or more gross, superlative grossest or most gross)

  1. (of behaviour considered to be wrong) Highly or conspicuously offensive.
    Synonyms: serious, flagrant, shameful, appalling, egregious.
    a gross mistake;  gross injustice;  gross negligence; a gross insult
  2. (of an amount) Excluding any deductions; including all associated amounts.
    Synonyms: whole, entire, overall, total, aggregate
    Antonym: net
  3. (sciences, pathology) Seen without a microscope (usually for a tissue or an organ); at a large scale; not detailed.
    Synonym: macroscopic
    Antonym: microscopic
    • 1962, Rachel Carson, chapter 12, in Silent Spring[4], Boston: Houghton Mifflin, page 190:
      We are accustomed to look for the gross and immediate effect and to ignore all else. Unless this appears promptly and in such obvious form that it cannot be ignored, we deny the existence of hazard.
  4. (informal, Canada, US, Australia) Causing disgust.
    Synonyms: disgusting, gro, grody, grotesque, grotty, nasty, revolting, yucky
    I threw up all over the bed. It was totally gross.
    • 1978, Armistead Maupin, “Ties That Bind”, in Tales of the City[5], New York: Harper & Row, published 1989, page 293:
      Mary Ann spent her lunch hour at Hastings, picking out just the right tie for Norman. The hint might not be terribly subtle, she decided, but somebody had to do something about that gross, gravy-stained clip-on number.
    • 2002, Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex[6], New York: Picador, Book 3, p. 306:
      The next-door neighbor’s cat coughed up a hairball one day and the hair was not the cat’s. “That’s so gross!”
  5. Lacking refinement in behaviour or manner; offending a standard of morality.
    Synonyms: coarse, rude, vulgar, obscene, impure
    • c. 1626 or 1629–1633 (first performance), [John Ford], ’Tis Pitty Shee’s a Whore [], London: [] Nicholas Okes for Richard Collins, [], published 1633, →OCLC, Act I:
      Pog. Forsooth my Maister said that hee loved her almost as well as hee loved parmasent, and swore [...] that shee wanted such a Nose as his was, to be as pretty a young woeman, as was any in Parma. Do. Oh grose!
    • 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal[7], act I, scene 1:
      Verjuice. She certainly has Talents.
      Lady Sneerwell. But her manner is gross.
    • 1874, A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Dodsley et al.:
      But man to know God is a difficulty, except by a mean he himself inure, which is to know God’s creatures that be: at first them that be of the grossest nature, and then [...] them that be more pure.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill. It was ugly, gross. Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion—or rather as a transition from the subject that started their conversation—such talk had been distressingly out of place.
  6. (of a product) Lacking refinement; not of high quality.
    Synonyms: coarse, rough, unrefined
    Antonym: fine
  7. (of a person) Heavy in proportion to one's height; having a lot of excess flesh.
    Synonyms: great, large, bulky, fat, obese
    • 1925, W. Somerset Maugham, chapter 79, in The Painted Veil, London: Heinemann, published 1934:
      Kitty noticed that her sister’s pregnancy had blunted her features and in her black dress she looked gross and blousy.
    • 2013, Hilary Mantel, “Royal Bodies”, in London Review of Books, 35.IV:
      He collected a number of injuries that stopped him jousting, and then in middle age became stout, eventually gross.
  8. (now chiefly poetic) Difficult or impossible to see through.
    Synonyms: thick, heavy
  9. (archaic) Not sensitive in perception or feeling.
    Synonyms: dull, witless
    • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. [] The First Part [], 2nd edition, part 1, London: [] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, [], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vii:
      For he is groſſe and like the maſſie earth,
      That mooues not vpwards, nor by princely deeds
      Doth meane to ſoare aboue the highest ſort.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, [] (King James Version), London: [] Robert Barker, [], →OCLC, Matthew 13:15:
      For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
    • 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: [], London: [] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, [], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: [] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:
      A thousand liveried Angels lacky her [the chaste soul],
      Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt,
      And in cleer dream, and solemn vision
      Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear.
      read online
  10. (obsolete) Easy to perceive.
    Synonyms: obvious, clear

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Noun[edit]

gross (countable and uncountable, plural gross or grosses)

English numbers (edit)
144
    Group collective: gross
  1. Twelve dozen = 144.
  2. The total nominal earnings or amount, before taxes, expenses, exceptions or similar are deducted. That which remains after all deductions is called net.
  3. The bulk, the mass, the masses.

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

gross (third-person singular simple present grosses, present participle grossing, simple past and past participle grossed)

  1. (transitive) To earn money, not including expenses.
    The movie grossed three million on the first weekend.
    • 2014 January 21, Hermione Hoby, “Julia Roberts interview for August: Osage County – 'I might actually go to hell for this ...': Julia Roberts reveals why her violent, Oscar-nominated performance in August: Osage County made her feel 'like a terrible person' [print version: 'I might actually go to hell for this ...' (18 January 2014, p. R4)]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review)[11]:
      The film grossed $464 million worldwide, ensconcing her in the Hollywood A-list.

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

German[edit]

Adjective[edit]

gross (strong nominative masculine singular grosser, comparative grösser, superlative am grössten)

  1. Switzerland and Liechtenstein standard spelling of groß

Declension[edit]

Lombard[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Late Latin grossus.

Adjective[edit]

gross

  1. big, fat, large, thick

Pennsylvania German[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle High German grōz, from Old High German grōz, from Proto-West Germanic *graut, from Proto-Germanic *grautaz.

Compare German groß, Dutch groot, English great.

Adjective[edit]

gross (comparative greesser, superlative greescht)

  1. big, large

Derived terms[edit]

Swedish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From French grosse (douzaine), "large (dozen)".

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

gross n

  1. a gross, twelve dozen (144)

Declension[edit]

Declension of gross 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative gross grosset gross grossen
Genitive gross grossets gross grossens

Related terms[edit]

See also[edit]

Anagrams[edit]