The Scots verb groak, also spelled growk, can mean “to look longingly at something,” especially the way a child or dog begs for food. A Scots dictionary also gives a watchful or suspicious sense, plus an extended meaning: to come fully awake after sleep by focusing the eyes on nearby things. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Scots “Growk” and “Groak” Describe a Begging Dog’s Longing Look”
Somebody in my Facebook feed posted a photo of her dog, and the dog was looking longingly at the food that my friend was eating.
And I said, oh, that dog is groking.
Do you know this word, groking?
No, but I’m about to learn.
You are. You are. It’s spelled either G-R-O-A-K or G-R-O-W-K.
And it’s a Scots term.
And if you look it up in the Dictionary of Scots language, it says that grouk is to look at someone with a watchful or suspicious eye to look longingly at something, especially of a child or dog begging for food.
And the dictionary says that by extension, it’s come to mean to come thoroughly awake after a sleep by focusing the eyes on surrounding objects.
Interesting.
Isn’t that cool?
Groking.
So the dog was groking for the pizza?
Or groking, yeah.
Just groking in general.
Yes.
Handy word, right?
We’ll see about that one.
