Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. milit.) to grumble, to complain; thus grouser n., one who grumbles; grousy adj., ill-tempered, complaining.

1887		Kipling From Sea to Sea (1899) 396: That’s the only thing as ’ill make the Blue Lights stop grousin’ and stiffin’ [...] ‘Grousing’ is sulking, and ‘stiffin’ is using unparliamentary language.
1896		Regiment 22 Aug. 314/2: And when he’s for Route Marching, Defaulters, or Field-day, / It’s ten to one he grouses hard, and this you'll hear him say— [etc].
1901		Healesville & Yarra Glen Guardian (Vic.) 31 May 736/4: It’s a privilege to ‘grouse’ so please do not mind / What this grumbling old soldier has to say.
1910		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘With Music’ Sporting Times 8 Jan. 1/3: So that what with Bess grousin’, and us grousin’, too, / For ’e’d cut us all out with the ladies, we knew, / The result was a regular ’ullabaloo.
1915		Capricorn (Rockhampton, Qld) 16 Oct. 2/3: Grouser Grumps [...] The children called her Grousy Grumps, though Gladys was her name.
1917		‘Henry Handel Richardson’ Aus. Felix (1971) 219: The old man’s on the warpath [...] Same old grouser! Never could take a joke.
1918		L.N. Smith Lingo of No Man’s Land 42: GROUSING Tommy out of sorts, grumbling, is grousing.
1918		Kia Ora Coo-ee 15 June 5/2: After that comes the ‘afternoon tidy up’; and at 6 o’clock, if you aren’t feeling grousy and cussing everything – well, your name ought to be Job.
1925		Hull Dly Mail 26 Nov. 9/3: They could make complaints to the Health Department without being regarded as grousers.
1929		C. Panzram Journal of Murder in Gaddis & Long (2002) 155: I have been grousing about my job. I didn’t.
1930		W.S. Maugham Bread-Winner Act II: It’s no good grousing.
1932		Nottingham Eve. Post 24 Oct. 3/3: She’s ther world’s worst grousers. She meets you with a tale of woe, and leaves you with another.
1937		E. Raymond Marsh 41: It’s no good letting them get a line on you as a grouser and a blinking Socialist.
1947		J. Maclaren-Ross Of Love And Hunger 175: If you people in Brighton got on with your job, instead of [...] grousing about dems.
1967		W. Manus Mott the Hoople 31: I hid behind a tree until the grousers dispersed.
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 131: Grouse Make uncomplimentary remarks about someone.
1983		M. Read Scouting for Boys in Best Radio Plays (1984) 178: There is no room for a shirker or a grouser.
1984		hearings US Congress Foreign Assistance and Related Programs Appropriations 130: These serious observers grouse about the way the Reagan administration talks about the issues; they grouse about the government of El Salvador.
2001		Green & Wolf How to Prepare for the Sat I 191: Students traditionally grouse about the abysmal quality of ‘mystery meat’ and similar dormitory food.
2022		G.M. Graff Watergate 624: Hearing the news aboard Air Force One, Nixon groused.