groin1 (groin)

[A corruption of earlier grine (as joist of earlier jist, or perhaps by confusion with groin2, the snout of a swine), grine (formerly also gryne ) being itself a corruption of grain2, the fork of a tree or of a river, the groin: see grain2.] 1. In an at., the fold or hollow of the body on either side of the belly where the thigh joins the trunk; the oblique depre ion between the abdominal and the femoral region; the inguinal region or inguen, corresponding to the axilla or armpit. IMG:content-2696.jpg:[merged small][merged small][graphic][subsumed] Medieval Groins in early 12th century vaulting. A, A, groins. (From Viollet-le-Duc's "Dict. de l'Architecture.") In pointed vaults the groins almost always rest upon or are covered by ribs. See arel and rib. Also called groining. On the north outside, beyond the windows, are many marks of rece es, groins, arms, on the remains of some other room. Pennant, London, House of Commons, p. 124. 3. A wooden breakwater or frame of woodwork constructed acro a beach between low and high water to retain sand or mud thrown up by the tide, and to form a protection from the force of the waves to the land lying behind it. Also spelled, archaically, groyne. [Eng.] The name of groin is still applied in the metaphorical sense to the frame of woodwork employed on our southern coast to arrest the drifts of shingle, which accumulates against it as a small promontory jutting into the sea. N. and Q., 6th ser., XI. 416. In the majority of cases such arresting of shingle is caused by building out groynes, or by the construction of piers and harbour-mouths which act as large groynes. Nature , XXX. 522 groin1 (groin), v. t. [ The hand that rounded Peter's dome, And groined the aisles of Christian Rome, Wrought in a sad sincerity. Emerson, The Problem.