grinch

Named after the main character in a children's book by Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957). Coined as early as 1953, the term was initially used for a fictitious bird named the "Beagle-Beaked-Bald-Headed Grinch" in Scrambled Eggs Super!; it became associated with the character in a poem published in the May 1955 issue of Redbook, "The Hoobub and the Grinch". Likely a corruption of grouch.

• IPA^(key): /ɡɹɪnt͡ʃ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪntʃ

grinch (plural grinches)

1. (chiefly US) A grouch or killjoy.

   Synonyms: grouch, killjoy, spoilsport; see also Thesaurus:spoilsport

   Coordinate term: scrooge

   • 2010 December 9, Chris Good, “Will Republicans Scuttle the Tax Cut Deal?”, in The Atlantic‎^[1]:

     Here's what they would risk: appearing responsible for higher taxes next year after Obama offered them a deal to extend the Bush-era rates, coming off as grinches for failing to extend unemployment insurance during the holiday season, and the possibility that next year Obama and Democrats will actually hold more leverage in this debate.

2. (informal, somewhat derogatory) A person who is aggressively intent on ruining the Christmas holidays for others.

grinch (third-person singular simple present grinches, present participle grinching, simple past and past participle grinched)

1. (chiefly US) To act like a grinch; to be a killjoy towards someone.

• grinch on Wikipedia.Wikipedia