■ adjective
1》 unattractively large or bloated.
2》 vulgar; coarse.
↘ informal very unpleasant; repulsive.
3》 blatantly wrong or unacceptable: ~ human rights abuses.
4》 (of income, profit, or interest) without deduction of tax or other contributions; total. Often contrasted with net 2 .
↘(of weight) including contents or other variable items; overall.
■ adverb without tax or other contributions having been deducted.
■ verb
1》 produce or earn (an amount of money) as ~ profit or income.
↘( ~ something up ) add deductions such as tax to a net amount.
2》 ( ~ someone out ) N. Amer. informal disgust someone.
■ noun
1》 ( plural same) an amount equal to twelve dozen; 144.
2》 ( plural ~es ) a ~ profit or income.
Derivatives
~ly adverb
~ness noun
Origin
ME (in the sense 'thick, massive'): from OFr. gros , ~e 'large', from late L. ~us ; sense 1 of the noun is from Fr. ~e douzaine , lit. 'large dozen'.