I. grouse 1 /ɡraʊs/ BrE AmE noun
[ Date: 1500-1600 ; Origin: Perhaps from Latin gruta , name of a type of bird hunted for food ]
1 . [uncountable and countable] ( plural grouse ) a small bird that is hunted and shot for food and sport, or the flesh of this bird:
the grouse shooting season
roast grouse
2 . [countable] informal a complaint:
His main grouse is that he isn’t paid enough.
II. grouse 2 BrE AmE verb [intransitive]
[ Date: 1800-1900 ; Origin: Perhaps from Old French grouchier ; ⇨ ↑ grouch 1 ]
informal to complain about something SYN moan
grouse about
I haven’t really got much to grouse about.