grabass
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
grabass (uncountable)
- (informal, often used with the verb play) Sexual groping; erotic horseplay.
- 1997, Lee K. Abbott, “Chapter One of Wet Places at Noon”, in New York Times, retrieved 11 December 2015:
- Bobby was bear-hugging Sammy Vaughn and then playing grab-ass with Sammy's ex-wife Alice.
- (informal, often used with the verb play) Rowdy behavior; general horseplay or foolery.
- 1967, Cool Hand Luke, spoken by Carr (Clifton James):
- There's no playing grab-ass or fighting in the building. You got a grudge against another man, you fight him Saturday afternoon. Any man playing grab-ass or fighting in the building spends a night in the box.
- 1977, Philip Caputo, A Rumor of War (2014 Macmillan edition), →ISBN, p. 46 (Google preview):
- "Anything else? Yes, Lieutenant Lemmon?"
- "Yes, sir," Lemmon drawled. "How do I get out of this chicken-shit outfit?"
- "Knock off the grabass, Glen. Okay, listen up. When you brief your people, make it clear that our mission is defensive only."
Verb edit
grabass (third-person singular simple present grabasses, present participle grabassing, simple past and past participle grabassed)
- (informal) To fool around.
- 1966, Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49, New York: Bantam Books, published 1976, →ISBN:
- The Paranoids were singing, to the tune of ‘Adeste Fideles’: […] grabassing around, trying to push each other over the side.