Word: gross Part of Speech: adj Etymology: From Middle English gros (“large, thick, full-bodied; coarse, unrefined, simple”), from Old French gros, from Latin grossus (“big, fat, thick”, in Late Latin also “coarse, rough”), of uncertain further origin but perhaps related to Proto-Celtic *brassos (“great, violent”). Pronunciation: /ɡɹəʊs/, /ɡɹoʊs/, /ɡɹɔs/, /ɡɹos/ 1. remarkably great, big, vast in an often unpleasant way; (of behaviour) Highly or conspicuously offensive. Example: a gross mistake; gross injustice; gross negligence; a gross insult Example: Henry IV. My gracious uncle, let me know my fault: / On what condition stands it and wherein? / Edmund of Langley. Even in condition of the worst degree, / In gross rebellion and detested treason: 2. Excluding any deductions; including all associated amounts. Example: gross domestic product; gross income; gross weight Example: What is the gross sum that I owe thee? 3. Seen without a microscope (usually for a tissue or an organ); at a large scale; not detailed. Example: gross anatomy Example: We are accustomed to look for the gross and immediate effect and to ignore all else. Unless this appears promptly and in such obvious form that it cannot be ignored, we deny the existence of hazard. 4. Causing disgust. Labels: Australia, Canada, US, informal Example: I threw up all over the bed. It was totally gross. Example: Mary Ann spent her lunch hour at Hastings, picking out just the right tie for Norman. The hint might not be terribly subtle, she decided, but somebody had to do something about that gross, gravy-stained clip-on number. 5. Lacking refinement in behaviour or manner; offending a standard of morality. Example: Pog. Forsooth my Maister said that hee loved her almost as well as hee loved parmasent, and swore […] that shee wanted such a Nose as his was, to be as pretty a young woeman, as was any in Parma. Do. Oh grose! Example: Verjuice. She certainly has Talents. / Lady Sneerwell. But her manner is gross. 6. Lacking refinement; not of high quality. Example: The flowers of Rubens are gross and rude […] Example: He scorned my wholesome kennel fare, toothing out dainties and leaving the grosser portions to be finished by the other dogs. 7. Dense, heavy. Example: ⁠Thy spirit ere our fatal loss / ⁠Did ever rise from high to higher; / ⁠As mounts the heavenward altar-fire, / As flies the lighter thro’ the gross. 8. Heavy in proportion to one's height; having a lot of excess flesh. Example: Kitty noticed that her sister’s pregnancy had blunted her features and in her black dress she looked gross and blousy. Example: He collected a number of injuries that stopped him jousting, and then in middle age became stout, eventually gross. 9. Difficult or impossible to see through. Labels: poetic Example: Couragious Lancaster, imbrace thy king, / And as grosse vapours perish by the sunne, / Euen so let hatred with thy soueraigne smile, Example: For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. 10. Not sensitive in perception or feeling. Labels: archaic Example: For he is groſſe and like the maſſie earth, / That mooues not vpwards, nor by princely deeds / Doth meane to ſoare aboue the highest ſort. Example: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 11. Easy to perceive. Labels: obsolete Example: […] though the truth of it stands off as gross / As black and white, my eye will scarcely see it.