English

Verb

greet ‎(third-person singular simple present greets, present participle greeting, simple past and past participle greeted)

1. To address with salutations or expressions of kind wishes; to salute; to hail; to welcome; to accost with friendship; to pay respects or compliments to, either personally or through the intervention of another, or by writing or token.
   • 1591, William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act III, scene 1

     My lord, the mayor of London comes to greet you.

   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,

     Warwick observed, as they passed through the respectable quarter, that few people who met the girl greeted her, and that some others whom she passed at gates or doorways gave her no sign of recognition; from which he inferred that she was possibly a visitor in the town and not well acquainted.

2. To come upon, or meet, as with something that makes the heart glad.
   • 1707, Joseph Addison, Rosamond, Act I, scene 4

     In vain the spring my senses greets.

3. To accost; to address.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Alexander Pope to this entry?)

4. (intransitive) To meet and give salutations.
   • circa 1590, William Shakespeare, Titus Adronicus, Act I, scene 2, line 90

     There greet in silence, as the dead are wont, And sleep in peace.

5. To be perceived by (somebody).
   • 2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:

     From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.

   A brilliant dawn greeted her as she looked out the window.‎

Derived terms

• greeter
• meet-and-greet

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English greet, grete ‎(“great”).

Adjective

greet ‎(comparative more greet, superlative most greet)

1. (obsolete outside Scotland) Great.

Etymology 3

From a blend of two Old English verbs, grētan, grǣtan (cognate with Swedish gråta, Danish græde) from Proto-Germanic *grētaną; and of Old English grēotan (itself from Proto-Germanic *greutaną), both meaning ‘to weep, lament’.

Verb

greet ‎(third-person singular simple present greets, present participle greeting, simple past and past participle greeted or grat or grutten)

1. (Scotland, Northern England) To weep; to cry.
   • 1933, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Cloud Howe, Polygon 2006 (A Scots Quair), page 312:

     And damn't! if he didn't take down her bit things and scone her so sore she grat like a bairn [...].

   • 2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin 2009, page 2:

     My maw went potty and started greeting.

Noun

greet ‎(uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Mourning, weeping, lamentation.

References

• The New Geordie Dictionary, Frank Graham, 1987, ISBN 0946928118
• Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4
• greet in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

• egret

Middle English

Alternative forms

• grete

Adjective

greet ‎(comparative greter, superlative gretest)

1. great (large, significant)

Descendants

• English: great

Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡrit/

Etymology 1

From a blend of two Old English verbs, grētan (cognate with Swedish gråta', Danish græde) and grēotan (of uncertain ultimate origin), both ‘weep, lament’.

Verb

greet ‎(third-person singular present greets, present participle greetin, past grat or grettit, past participle grutten)

1. to weep, lament
   • 2013, Donal McLaughlin, translating Pedro Lenz, Naw Much of a Talker, Freight Books 2013, page 5:

     Thinking o Regula hid me greetin aw ae a sudden.

Noun

greet ‎(uncountable)

1. cry, lamentation

Etymology 2

Adjective

greet ‎(comparative greeter, superlative greetest)

1. Alternative form of great