grouse, growse, grouss

[Etym. doubtful. According to Skeat grouse is a false form, evolved as a supposed singular from the older word grice (cf. mouse, mice). Grice is from O. Fr. griesche = gray or peckled (speckled), poule griesche =a moorhen, the hen of the grice or moor game. ( Cotgrave.)] Ornithology, & c.: 1. Sing .: Various game-birds, specially the Tetrao tetrix , called the Black-grouse, and Lagopus scot i cus, the Red-grouse. The male of the former is called the Black-cock (q. v.), and the female the Gray-hen. The Red, called also the Common Grouse, inhabits moors, feeding on the young shoots of the heath. 2. Pl.: The family Tetra on ide. grouse-family, s. pl. Ornith.: The family Tetra on ide (q. v.). Besides Tetrao it contains the genus Lagopus (Ptarmigan), . The Ruffled-grouse is the genus Bonasia, Sandgrouse are the family Pteroclide, and the Woodgrouse is the Capercailzie (q. v.). grouse, v. i. [GROUSE, s.] To hunt after or shoot grouse. grous-er, s. Pile driving, & c .: An anchor for a boat; made of a pointed timber which slides vertically, and cараble of being thrust into the ground. grou-some, a. [GREWSOME.]