grommet

See also: Grommet

WOTD – 22 February 2010

English

Rubber grommets.

Alternative forms

grummet
gromet

Etymology

From obsolete French gromette (“curb chain”) (modern spelling gourmette).

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹɒm.ɪt/, /ˈɡɹʌm.ɪt/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹɑ.mɪt/
Audio (AU) (file)
Rhymes: -ɒmɪt

Noun

grommet (plural grommets)

A reinforced eyelet, or a small metal or plastic ring used to reinforce an eyelet.
(nautical) A ring formed of a single strand of rope, laid in three times round, fastening the upper edge of a sail to its stay.
(surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding) A young or inexperienced surfer, skateboarder, or snowboarder.
What do you over the pond skaterboarders ^[sic] say? Is there a global term to be used to label someone as a skateboarder? Does it matter? I suppose the only one you can apply widely is ‘grommet’.
A boy serving on a ship.

Synonyms

(surfer, snowboarder): grom

Derived terms

drop grommet

Translations

reinforced eyelet, or a small metal or plastic ring

Afrikaans: kabelwartel
Bulgarian: илик m (ilik)
Dutch: kabelwartel
Finnish: holkki (fi)
French: œillet renforçé, manchon (fr) m, passe-câble m (electricity), presse-étoupe (fr)
Galician: arandela f

German: Grommet, Durchführungstülle f, Augenring (de) m
Italian: boccola (it) f, occhiello (it) m, passacavo (it) m
Maori: takaore
Russian: люверс (ru) m (ljuvers)
Spanish: ollao reforzado

young or inexperienced surfer, skateboarder or snowboarder

Verb

grommet (third-person singular simple present grommets, present participle grommeting, simple past and past participle grommeted)

(transitive) To insert a grommet into.
- 1923, “American Machinist”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 58, number 23-26, page 919:
  The device takes the form of a guard for the punch presses which are used in grommeting mail bags in the process of manufacture.
- 2007, Wil McCarthy, The Wellstone, page 225:
  There was little point in grommeting the hole, since the wrapping was already as rigid and tough as its invisibility permitted.
(transitive) To fasten using a grommet.
(intransitive) To apply grommets.

References

Grommet in the 1905 edition of the New International Encyclopedia.