groom
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: computing
engineering
law
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
software
Etymology: 1604, short for bridegroom (“husband-to-be”), from Middle English brydgrome, alteration (with intrusive r) of earlier bridegome (“bridegroom”), from Old English brȳdguma (“bridegroom”), from brȳd (“bride”) + guma (“man, hero”). In Middle English, the second element was re-analyzed as or influenced by grom, grome (“attendant”). Guma derives from Proto-Germanic *gumô (“man, person”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰǵʰm̥mō; it is cognate to Icelandic gumi (cf. Icelandic brúðgumi) and Norwegian gume and, ultimately, human.
Inflected forms:
form: grooms
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: grooms
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: grooming
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: groomed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: groomed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A man who is about to marry.
pos: noun
gloss: To attend to one's appearance and clothing.
pos: verb
gloss: To care for (horses or other animals) by brushing and cleaning them.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 2010 (April 20) "The Collection" s1e6 of TV series Justified
The wife didn't care about riding, but Owen did. Well, he cared about me. I went from doing everything — grooming, feeding, looking out — to being handed the reins of the most magnificent creatures ready to ride.
gloss: To prepare (someone) for an event
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: It appears that Broderick's seconds, although cool, brave men, were entirely without experience in arranging a duel, and did not know that a man should be groomed for one as carefully as a horse is groomed for a race.
gloss: To prepare (someone) for election or appointment.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: It is of special interest to note the subjects considered as important to those who are being groomed for top administrative posts
2002, Clone High episode 1 - "Escape to Beer Mountain: A Rope of Sand"
Our mission is to unfreeze those clones, send them back to high school, and secretly groom them to one day rule the world. Failure to do so could mean world leaders just keep getting worse.
2009, Dani Johnson, Grooming the Next Generation for Success
2012 (February 28) in "The Man Behind the Curtain" s3e7 of TV series Justified
I was the son he always wanted. He groomed me to take over someday, but now Sammy's got the houses, the cars, the money, the juice.
India is run by gerontocrats and epigones: grey hairs and groomed heirs.
2023 in "The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon" episode 5 "Deux Amours" regarding Laurent
Daryl "But he's gonna be safe? I'm afraid those nuns raised him a little -- a little soft."
Losang "He'll be well looked after. Nurtured and groomed... to be the leader he's destined to be."
gloss: To gain, or attempt to gain, the trust of a child or vulnerable person in order to take advantage of or exploit them, especially sexually (if under the age of consent).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 2009, Suzanne Ost, Child Pornography and Sexual Grooming: Legal and Societal Responses
gloss: In agile software development, to review and prioritize the items in the development backlog.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To prepare (a ski slope) for skiers by packing down the snow.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
Derived words: groomlet
groomling
bridegroom
groomed
groomee
groomer
groomery
grooming
misgroom
overgroom
regroom
Translations: