GROUSE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Grouse

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noun

Grouse n. (Zool.) Any of the numerous species of gallinaceous birds of the family Tetraonidae, and subfamily Tetraoninae, inhabiting Europe, Asia, and North America. They have plump bodies, strong, well-feathered legs, and usually mottled plumage. The group includes the ptarmigans (Lagopus), having feathered feet. Note: Among the European species are the red grouse (Lagopus Scoticus) and the hazel grouse (Bonasa betulina). See Capercaidzie, Ptarmigan, and Heath grouse. Among the most important American species are the ruffed grouse, or New England partridge (Bonasa umbellus); the sharp-tailed grouse (Pediocaetes phasianellus) of the West; the dusky blue, or pine grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) of the Rocky Mountains; the Canada grouse, or spruce partridge (D. Canadensis). See also Prairie hen, and Sage cock. The Old World sand grouse (Pterocles, etc.) belong to a very different family. See Pterocletes, and Sand grouse.

verb

Grouse v. i.

To seek or shoot grouse.

To complain or grumble; as, employees grousing about their incompetent boss. (informal)

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Etymology of 'Grouse'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Grouse" Quotes from Famous Books

... their foliage. All day long, the little beaks of the birds are busy. The dear little rose-breasted gross-beak carefully examines the potato plants, and picks off the beetles, the martins destroy weevil, the quail and grouse family eats the chinchbug, the woodpeckers dig the worms from the trees, and many other birds eat the flies and gnats and mosquitoes that torment us so. No flying or crawling creature escapes their sharp little eyes. A great Frenchman ...

— Beautiful Joe • Marshall Saunders

... grouse in Scotland," she answered with a smile. "But I suppose ammunition is valuable up here, and I'm going to try ...

— A Mating in the Wilds • Ottwell Binns

... "No—that's grouse, not glow-worms. You see, you are reduced to July, and it's July still. Do take my advice, Mr. Pellew, and leave Natural History alone. Nobody will ever know you know nothing about it, if you hold ...

— When Ghost Meets Ghost • William Frend De Morgan

... old stories in our families. The wife and children laugh for the hundredth time at the joke. The old servants (though old servants are fewer every day) nod and smile a recognition at the well-known anecdote. "Don't tell that story of Grouse in the gun-room," says Diggory to Mr. Hardcastle in the play, "or I must laugh." As we twaddle, and grow old and forgetful, we may tell an old story; or, out of mere benevolence, and a wish to amuse a friend when ...

— Roundabout Papers • William Makepeace Thackeray

... supplying the starving population with food," he reminded her genially. "We sent about four hundred brace of grouse to market, not to speak of the salmon. We had some very fair golf, ...

— The Zeppelin's Passenger • E. Phillips Oppenheim

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