gurt

noun, adj — 2 senses

gurt

noun

UK /ˈɡɜːt/ · US /ˈɡɜːɹt/

Etymology Origin obscure. Possibly a metathesis of gutter. Cf. Middle English gout, got (“watercourse, ditch, sluice”)

1

Business, Mining A gutter or channel for water, hewn out of the bottom of a working drift.

gurt

adj

Etymology From Middle English girt, gert, a metathetic variant of gret (“great”). More at great.

1

UK, West Country, Dialectal, Pronunciation spelling Pronunciation spelling of great.

  • Then I opens the cupboard door and I sees a gurt big spider looking up at me.
  • Zo ′e bought a slap-up rod and tackle, and, ev coose, a darn gurt book vull o′ vlies — talk′d about ketchin′ whackin′ trout, and me — ap a salmon the fust time.1842, The Sportsman, Volume VI: January to June, page 103:
2 more examples
  • “That was the word,” said Farmer Forder. “Hav′n pocketed the tuppunce, the chap as show′d off the clock opened the case, and let me zee the works of ′un, and wonderful works they was : wheels within wheels, and all sorts o′ crinkum-crankums, like a gurt puzzle.[…]”1845, Douglas Jerrold, editor, Shilling Magazine, Volume II: July to December, page 416:
  • “Well, Tom, where did those birds settle?” “Down there, sir, under that gurt oak-tree.” Not a bird, however, was to be found.1884, John Coker Egerton, Sussex Folk and Sussex Ways: Stray Studies in the Wealden Formation of Human Nature, page 27:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.