grogram

English

WOTD – 20 January 2020

Etymology

A Panama hat with a grosgrain band.[n 1] Grogram is a type of grosgrain made up of a mixture of silk, and mohair or wool.

Borrowed from French gros-grain (“coarse grain, a strong fabric”), from gros (“coarse”) + grain (“grain”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵerh₂- (“to grow old, mature”)).[1] The word is a doublet of grosgrain which was borrowed later.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹɒɡɹəm/
Audio (RP) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹɑɡɹəm/
Hyphenation: gro‧gram

Noun

grogram (countable and uncountable, plural grograms)

A strong, rough fabric made up of a mixture of silk, and mohair or wool.
- p. 1597, J[ohn] Donne, “[Satyres] Satyre IIII”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, OCLC 1008264503, pages 339–340:
  Are not your Frenchmen neate? Fine, as you ſee, / I have but one frenchman, looke, hee followes mee. / Certes they are neatly cloth'd. I, of this minde am, / Your only wearing is your Grogaram; / Not ſo Sir, I have more.
- 1598, Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Euery Man in His Humour. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Ben Jonson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, OCLC 960101342, Act II, scene i, page 18:
  Tell him, if he will, / He ſhall ha' the grogran's, at the rate I told him, / And I will meet him, on the Exchange, anon.
- 1605 August (first performance), Geo[rge] Chapman; Ben Ionson; Ioh[n] Marston, Eastvvard Hoe. […], London: […] [George Eld] for William Aspley, published September 1605, OCLC 1121359361, Act I, scene ii:
  I like ſome humors of the Cittie Dames well: to eate Cherries onely at an Angell a pound, good; to dye rich Scarlet black, pretty: to line a Grogaram gowne cleane thorough with veluet, tollerable; their pure linnen, their ſmocks of 3. li. a ſmock are to be borne withall. But your minſing nicetyes, taffata pipkins, durance petticotes & ſilver bodkins—Gods my life, as I ſhall be a Lady, I cannot indure it.
- 1622 June 27, Thomas Roe, “To Mr. Secretary Caluert”, in The Negotiations of Sir Thomas Roe, in His Embassy to the Ottoman Porte, from the Year 1621 to 1628 inclusive: […], London: Printed by Samuel Richardson, at the expence of the Society for the Encouragement of Learning; and sold by G[eorge] Strahan, […], published 1740, OCLC 8160765682, page 58:
  The merchants aduise mee, that there is intended a proclamation for the prohibition of grograms, which, if it may aduance our owne commodity, will be an act of good policy; but I am bound to informe, it will retrench halfe the trade of this port.
- 1708, [Jonathan Swift], “The Metamorphosis of Baucis and Philemon, Burlesqu’d; from the 8th Book of Ovid”, in Baucis and Philemon; a Poem. […], London: […] H. Hills, […], published 1709, OCLC 745157818, pages 7–8:
  Inſtead of Home-ſpun quoifs were ſeen / Good Pinners, edg'd with Colberteen: / Her Petticoats tra[n]sform'd apace, / Became Black Satin flounc'd with Lace. / Plain Goody would no longer down, / 'Twas Madam in her Grogram gown.
- 1712 November 18 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison; Richard Steele [et al.], “FRIDAY, November 7, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 530; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume VI, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, OCLC 191120697, page 72:
  The natural sweetness and innocence of her behaviour, the freshness of her complexion, the unaffected turn of her shape and person, shot me through and through every time I saw her, and did more execution upon me in grogram, than the greatest beauty in town or court had ever done in brocade.
- 1819, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter XI, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume I (The Bride of Lammermoor), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], OCLC 277985465, page 305:
  Her mother [...] sat by the fire in the full glory of a grogram gown, lammer beads, and a clean cockernony, whiffing a snug pipe of tobacco, and superintending the affairs of the kitchen.
- 1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “The Games”, in Adam Bede […], volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, OCLC 2108290, book third, page 197:
  An' here, they'n gi'en you lots o' good grogram and flannel, as should ha' been gi'en by good rights to them as had the sense to keep away from such foolery. Ye might spare me a bit o' this grogram to make clothes for the lad—ye war ne'er ill-natur'd, Bess; I ne'er said that on ye.
- 1997, Denis Orde, “Mutiny”, in Nelson’s Mediterranean Command: Concerning Pride, Preferment & Prize Money, Edinburgh: Pentland Press, →ISBN; republished as Nelson’s Mediterranean Command, Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Maritime, Pen & Sword Books, 2014, →ISBN, page 38:
  The daily diet consisted of cheese, tough beef preserved in salt, pork, biscuits and half a pint of 'grog'. This was rum diluted with water to reduce its potency, as dictated by Admiral [Edward] Vernon back in 1740. Nicknamed 'Old Grogram' because of the grogram waterproof he so often wore, the rum ration took his nickname also.
- 2001, Yamakawa Kikue, “Dress”, in Kate Wildman Nakai, transl., Women of the Mito Domain: Recollections of Samurai Family Life, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, →ISBN, page 46:
  They had known nothing of woolen cloth, but now the popularity of obi made of imported grogram spread like wildfire. This popularity produced various stories in its wake.
A garment made from this fabric.
- 1824, Vicesimus Knox, “Evening LVIII. On the Danger and Folly of Innovation.”, in The Works of Vicesimus Knox, D.D. with a Biographical Preface. In Seven Volumes, volume III, London: Printed for J. Mawman, […], OCLC 3423414, pages 258–259:
  [W]ould you, Lady Alma, refuse to purchase a new gown, when by length of time your old grogram was worn to tatters, or grown so unfashionable as to excite ridicule in the very boys as you go to church?

Alternative forms

grogran

Hypernyms

grosgrain (“corded fabric with the weft heavier than the warp”)

Derived terms

grog (speculatively)

Descendants

→ French: gourgouran
- → Catalan: gorgorà
- → Portuguese: gorgorão
- → Spanish: gorgorán

Translations

strong, rough fabric made up of a mixture of silk, and mohair or wool

Catalan: gorgorà m
French: gourgouran (fr) m
German: Tarlatan m, Wischgaze f
Italian: grossagrana
Portuguese: gorgoram
Spanish: gorgorán m

Notes

From the collection of the Museu Paulista or Museu do Ipiranga in São Paulo, Brazil.

References

“grogram, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1900; “grogram, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.