Etymograph

English

gricer

Gricer may come from English grouser ‘one who hunts or shoots grouse’.

  1. English1500–presentgrouser‘one who hunts or shoots grouse’uncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1981gricer

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. English1500–presentgrouser‘one who hunts or shoots grouse’uncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1981gricer

Earliest quotation: 1981, Feedback: “The train was stuffed full of journalists and gricers,…”

The story

The suggestion that it is a humorous representation of a “received” pronunciation of grouser (‘one who hunts or shoots grouse’), or from the humorous plural grice of grouse + -er, based on the supposed resemblance of train spotting to grouse-shooting, has been reported several times independently, among other speculative etymologies.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Every English word from English grouser

Today it means

noun A railway enthusiast, a trainspotter.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / English grouser / gricer

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