grigl (grig)

[Appar. a var. of * crick (= D. kriek, a cricket, = Sw. kräk, krik, a little creature, esp. a crawling creature, The dry High-elbow'd grigs that leap in summer gra . Tennyson, The Brook. 2. The sand-eel; a small and very lively eel. 3. A short-legged hen. [Prov. Eng.] -4. One of a cla of vagabond dancers and tumblers. Brewer. [Showmen's cant.] - As merry as a grig, a proverb equivalent to as merry as a cricket: also in use, different from but partly confused with another proverb (apparently somewhat older), as merry as a Greek; merry grig as compared with a merry Greek. See merry Greek, under Greek. They drank till they all were as merry as grigs. IMG:content-2676.png:[blocks in formation] Harm. Rom. of the Rose, 1. 73. [ME. grille , gryll , grylle ; grill , a.] Lady, he ys to us foo, Therefore yrede that we hym sloo, He hath done us grete grylle . Erle of Tolous (Ritson's Metr. Rom., III.).