Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. staid, conservative.

1889		Times 27 Dec. n.p.: There is just a little danger of pantomime at Drury-lane becoming ‘groovy’.
1896		Blackwood’s Mag. July 96: Schoolmasters as a class are extremely groovy .
1906		Sun. Times (Perth) 25 Nov. 4/8: It’s all very well for human males / To plod and persevere, / And the keep the early-rising rules / From groovy year to year.
1914		‘Ian Hay’ Lighter Side of School Life 124: He [i.e. a schoolmaster] is hidebound, ‘groovy’; he cannot break away from tradition.
1915		‘Ian Hay’ First Hundred Thousand (1918) 116: The regularity of the hours, and the absolute certainty of his future, make a man a bit groovy.

2. (US campus, also grooving) not using drugs; not fashionable.

1968		K. Brasselle Cannibals 224: ‘Do you wanna get straight?’ one bare ass said, offering me a joint of pot. ‘No, baby [...] I gotta stay groovy for the gig.’.
1987		Eble Campus Sl. Spring 4: grooving – not in style.