Etymology From Middle English grim (“dirt or soot covering the face”), from a specialized use of Old English grīma (“mask”), from Proto-West Germanic *grīmō, from Proto-Germanic *grīmô (“mask”). Likely influenced by dialectal Dutch grijmsel (“grit, grime”), Dutch grijm (“soot, grime”), Middle Dutch gryme (“mask”), Middle Low German greme (“dirt”), compare Danish grime (“a halter”), Danish grimet (“soiled, stripy”), Norwegian Bokmål grimete (“soiled, stripy”), Norwegian Nynorsk grimete (“soiled, stripy”).
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Dirt, grease, soot, etc. that is ingrained and difficult to remove.
Underneath all that soot, dirt and grime is the true beauty of the church in soft shades of sandstone.
[…] ſhe ſweats a man may go ouer ſhoes in the grime of it.c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 92, column 1:
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Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall. Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 14, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
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Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music A genre of urban music that emerged in London, England, in the early 2000s, primarily a development of UK garage, dancehall, and hip hop.
Etymology From Middle English grim (“dirt or soot covering the face”), from a specialized use of Old English grīma (“mask”), from Proto-West Germanic *grīmō, from Proto-Germanic *grīmô (“mask”). Likely influenced by dialectal Dutch grijmsel (“grit, grime”), Dutch grijm (“soot, grime”), Middle Dutch gryme (“mask”), Middle Low German greme (“dirt”), compare Danish grime (“a halter”), Danish grimet (“soiled, stripy”), Norwegian Bokmål grimete (“soiled, stripy”), Norwegian Nynorsk grimete (“soiled, stripy”).
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To begrime; to cake with dirt.
All grimed with coaldust, they swing along the street with their dinner baskets and cans in their hands, chattering merrily.1862, Edwin Waugh, Home-Life of the Lancashire Factory Folk during the Cotton Famine:
Fog from the river rolled up the street and the windows were grimed by soot, but Cartwright had not turned on the electric light.1920, Harold Bindloss, Lister's Great Adventure:
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His skin was grimed with dust, for he had ridden hard in scorching heat, and was anxious and impatient to get on.1918, Harold Bindloss, The Buccaneer Farmer: