grunt Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the short low gruff noise of the kind made by hogs
    oink.
  2. noun an unskilled or low-ranking soldier or other worker
    • infantrymen in Vietnam were called grunts
    • he went from grunt to chairman in six years
  3. noun medium-sized tropical marine food fishes that utter grunting sounds when caught
  4. verb issue a grunting, low, animal-like noise
    • He grunted his reluctant approval

WordNet

Grunt transitive verb
Etymology
OE. grunten; akin to As. grunian, G. grunzen, Dan. grynte, Sw. grymta; all prob. of imitative; or perh. akin to E. groan.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Grunted; present participle & verbal noun Grunting
Definitions
  1. To make a deep, short noise, as a hog; to utter a short groan or a deep guttural sound.
    Who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life. Shak.
Grunt noun
Definitions
  1. A deep, guttural sound, as of a hog.
  2. (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of American food fishes, of the genus Hæmulon, allied to the snappers, as, the black grunt (A. Plumieri), and the redmouth grunt (H. aurolineatus), of the Southern United States; -- also applied to allied species of the genera Pomadasys, Orthopristis, and Pristopoma. Called also pigfish, squirrel fish, and grunter; -- so called from the noise it makes when taken.

Webster 1913