grig

Meanings

1. A dwarf.
2. A cricket or grasshopper.
3. A small or young eel.
4. Specifically, the broad-nosed eel. See glut.

1. Heath or heather.

1. To irritate or annoy.

Etymology

The word is often used in the phrase "merry as a grig". The word is of uncertain origin, though various theories have been suggested, such as a corruption of "merry as a cricket" or "merry as a Greek", as in William Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida: "Then she's a merry Greek indeed." Johnson suggested that the word originally meant "anything below the natural size" (compare Swedish krik and Scots crick).