I. grudge 1 /ɡrʌdʒ/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
1 . a feeling of dislike for someone because you cannot forget that they harmed you in the past
grudge against
Is there anyone who might have had a grudge against her?
Mr Gillis was not normally a man to bear grudges.
I’m not harbouring some secret grudge against you.
It could be the work of someone with a grudge against the company.
You let nasty little personal grudges creep in.
2 . grudge fight/match a fight or sports competition between two people who dislike each other a lot
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COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ have/hold a grudge
The police asked if anyone might have had a grudge against the victim.
▪ bear/carry a grudge
Wallace said the rumors had been started by someone who bore a grudge against him.
▪ harbour a grudge (=to have a grudge for a long time)
He was the sort of person to harbour a grudge for years.
▪ nurse a grudge (=to have a grudge and keep finding reasons for it)
She was still nursing a grudge against her grandfather.
■ adjectives
▪ a personal grudge
It is known that Ibarra had a personal grudge against Arellanos.
▪ an old/ancient/long-standing grudge
He said they should celebrate their achievements, not nurse old grudges.
■ phrases
▪ bear/hold etc no grudge
He insisted that he held no grudge against Taylor.
II. grudge 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive]
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: grouchier ; ⇨ ↑ grouch 1 ]
to do or give something very unwillingly
grudge doing something
I really grudge paying for poor service.
grudge somebody something
I don’t grudge him his success.
—grudging adjective [usually before noun] :
a grudging apology
—grudgingly adverb :
He grudgingly admitted he’d been wrong.