gree

See also: gréé, and grée

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɹiː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː

Etymology 1

From Middle English gre, from Old French gré, from Latin gradum (“step”). Compare degree. Doublet of grade.

Noun

gree (plural grees)

1. (obsolete) One of a flight of steps.
   • 1897, Bram Stoker, chapter 5, in Dracula‎^[1]:

     "My grand-daughter doesn't like to be kept waitin' when the tea is ready, for it takes me time to crammle aboon the grees, for there be a many of 'em, and miss, I lack belly-timber sairly by the clock."

2. (obsolete) A stage in a process; a degree of rank or station.
   • 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Iuly. Ægloga Septima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], →OCLC:

     He is a shepherd great in gree.

3. (now Scotland) Pre-eminence; victory or superiority in combat (hence also, the prize for winning a combat).
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “lxxj”, in Le Morte Darthur, book X (in Middle English):

     And thenne the kynge lete blowe to lodgynge
     and by cause sir Palomydes beganne fyrste
     and neuer he went nor rode oute of the feld to repose
     but euer was doynge merueyllously wel outher on foote or on horsbak
     and lengest durynge Kynge Arthur and alle the kynges gaf sir Palomydes the honour and the gree as for that daye

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

4. (geometry, obsolete) A degree.

Derived terms

• greece

Etymology 2

From (pre-reform) Scottish Gaelic gré, from Old Scottish Gaelic gray.

Noun

gree (plural grees)

1. (now Scotland) Pre-eminence; victory or superiority in combat (hence also, the prize for winning a combat).
   • 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book X:

     bycause Sir Palomydes beganne fyrste, and never he wente nor rode oute of the fylde to repose hym, but ever he was doynge on horsebak othir on foote, and lengest durynge, Kynge Arthure and all the kynges gaff Sir Palomydes the honoure and the gre as for that day.

Etymology 3

From Middle English gre, from Old French gré (“pleasure, goodwill”), from Latin gratum, a noun use of the neuter of gratus (“pleasing”).

Noun

gree (plural grees)

1. (archaic) Pleasure, goodwill, satisfaction.
   • 1600, [Torquato Tasso], “(please specify |book=1 to 20)”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC:

     Accept in gree, my lord, the words I spoke.

   • 1885, Sir Richard Francis Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, volume 1:

     When it was the Second Night, said Dunyazad to her sister Shahrazad, "O my sister, finish for us that story of the Merchant and the Jinni;" and she answered "With joy and goodly gree, if the King permit me."

Etymology 4

From Middle English green (“to agree”), from Old French greer, from gré (hence Etymology 3).

Verb

gree (third-person singular simple present grees, present participle greeing, simple past and past participle greed)

1. (obsolete, Nigeria) To agree.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 168:

     Gob. […] how dooſt thou and thy Maſter agree, I haue brought him a preſent; how gree you now?

Anagrams

• Eger, Geer, Gere, eger, egre, geer

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old French gré (“step”).

Noun

gree

1. Alternative form of gre (“step, degree”)

Etymology 2

From Old French gré (“goodwill”).

Noun

gree

1. Alternative form of gre (“goodwill, agreement”)

Etymology 3

From Old French greer.

Verb

gree

1. Alternative form of green

Scots

Verb

gree (third-person singular simple present grees, present participle greein, simple past greet, past participle greet)

1. (Doric Scots) to agree (make an agreement)
2. to agree (settle differences)

References

• “gree”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.