Grout Meaning
/ɡɹaʊt/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA thin mortar used to fill the gaps between tiles and cavities in masonry.
nounCoarse meal; groats.
Sentence Examples
When I tried to grout the tub myself, I did a terrible job.
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The tiles were loose, so we applied ____ between them to hold them tight.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English growte, grut, from Old English grūt (“dregs; coarse meal”), from Proto-West Germanic *grūt, from Proto-Germanic *grūtą (compare Dutch gruit (“dregs”), German Grauß, Norwegian grut (“ground”)), lengthening of Proto-Germanic *grutą, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to grind, rub”). Related to grit.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"grouts of tea"
— 1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, chapter V, in Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC:
"* Stitching and grouting fractures in masonry, insertion of date marker tabs for monitoring."
— 2020 May 20, Philip Haigh, “Ribblehead: at the heart of the S&C's survival and its revival: Ribblehead Viaduct repairs”, in Rail, page 27:
"The year before the pandemic, a sump tank attached to a waste pond sprang a leak and had to be grouted shut."
— December 15 2022, Samanth Subramanian, “Dismantling Sellafield: the epic task of shutting down a nuclear site”, in The Guardian:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The tiles were loose, so we applied ____ between them to hold them tight.