Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. misery, problems, troubles.

1862		W. Cheadle Journal (1931) 22 July 36: Bitten to death [...] Lord M’s arms very red and sore. Messiter’s back, hair gone to grief.
1877		Five Years’ Penal Servitude 120: These men arrange with a warder, who they have ‘squared’ to give their ‘pal in grief’ so many ounces of ‘bacca’.
1888		Cassell’s Sat. Journal 8 Dec. 249: In the United States he had [...] come to grief, and he had been obliged to return to this country for a similar reason [F&H].
1891		Sportsman 28 Feb. 5/7: The flag had scarcely fallen than the ‘grief’ commenced .
1925		S. Lewis Arrowsmith 73: ‘What’s the grief?’ Clif wondered. ‘Wife passed away? Or did the Giants win in the ninth?’.
1936		J. Curtis Gilt Kid 108: Marrying you? That’s your grief now? How much has old Bedbug said about the splicing stakes?
1947		I. Shulman Amboy Dukes 118: Talking now might save you a lot of grief later on.
1953		R. Chandler Long Good-Bye 239: He made me a lot of trouble and in the end a lot of grief.
1965		R.L. Pike Mute Witness (1997) 149: All you’re going to be asking for is grief, going in there.
1972		(con. 1960s) D. Goines Whoreson 228: All you’d do is bring me grief.
1989		M. Amis London Fields 457: There’s no pub. Don’t you think we have enough grief already, Keith. Without wheeling a couple of hundred pissers in and out of here.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 229: He’s giving me grief, but only because he has grief.
2004		J. Ellroy ‘Hot-Prowl Rape-O’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 282: Fuzz, huh? This feels like grief I don’t need.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] Pommy Mick had been copping grief from one of the screws.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 43: You’re capable, Sonny, but do you need the grief?
2011		D.R. Pollock Devil All the Time 106: ‘They’d just come back later wanting to give me some more grief’.
2012		(con. 1943) G.S. Manson Irish Fandango [ebook] The old bloke probably had enough grief.
2016		A. Wheatle Crongton Knights 17: I wasn’t gonna tell Mr Lockton no excuse about [...] Nesta getting grief.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 9: The Ventura freeway as all siren blare and hot lights. It vibed interagency grief.

2. (US gay) a homophobic thug.

1972

B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 64: generic term for those who cause homosexuals trouble [...] grief.