grouch

From grutch. Noun form first attested in the 1890s, verb form in 1916.

• IPA^(key): /ɡɹaʊtʃ/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -aʊtʃ

grouch (plural grouches)

1. A complaint, a grumble, a fit of ill-humor. [from the late 19th c]
   • 1919, P. G. Wodehouse, 'A Damsel in Distress', Herbert Jenkins, 1956, p 20

     But today he had noticed from the moment he had got out of bed that something was amiss with the world. Either he was in the grip of some divine discontent due to the highly developed condition of his soul, or else he had a grouch.

2. One who is grumpy or irritable. [from the early 20th c]
   • I don't feel like hanging around with that grouch.

grouch (third-person singular simple present grouches, present participle grouching, simple past and past participle grouched)

1. (intransitive) To be grumpy or irritable; to complain. [from the early 20th c]

   He spent all his time grouching about the problem instead of fixing it.

• See also Thesaurus:complain

• grouchy