Green’s Dictionary of Slang

grill n.1

1. (US black) the stomach.

[US]M.H. Boulware Jive and Sl.

2. (US black/teen) the face or mouth; thus one’s personal space.

[US]Grandmaster Flash ‘Superrappin’ 🎵 If my Mercedes break down and dull my grill .
[US]Ice-T ‘Personal’ 🎵 My style don’t ramble, you shouldn’t gamble / With your grill.
[US]Da Bomb Summer Supplement 7: Grill [...] 3. (n.) A person’s business. I wish everyone would stay out of my grill.
[US]T. Fontana ‘The Routine’Oz ser. 1 ep. 1 [TV script] Uppercuts to the grill / I’m like ‘Kill!’.
[US]Simon & Zorzi ‘Unconfirmed Reports’ Wire ser. 5 ep. 2 [TV script] Send my sister a hundred large, and the next time you come in Jessup, it won’t be my grill talkin’ at you.
[US]J. Díaz This Is How You Lose Her 183: Deadbeats catch one peep of your dismal grill and cough up their debts.
[US]J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 122: You need to get out my grill, bitch.

3. (also grille) the teeth.

[US]Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 5: grill – teeth, mouth, or smile: ‘She has a messed up grill’.
Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 grill n 1. teeth. (‘That chick is cute but she’s got a bad grill.’).
[US](con. 1975–6) E. Little Steel Toes 113: Leave ya alone for a little while and ya come back an ex-con with a missing grille.
[Aus]Cypress Hill Sl. Gloss. 🌐 grill: teeth.
[US]J. Stahl Pain Killers 298: The reverend laughed and showed off his gold grill.

4. (US black) an intense stare.

[US]Big L ‘Ebonics’ 🎵 A very hard, long stare is a grill.
[US]G. Hayward Corruption Officer [ebk] cap. 26: He had the grill face on so I matched his intensity.

5. (US black) a metal overlay for the teeth, usu. ornamented with precious stones.

Urban Dict. 30 Nov. 🌐 grill A gold/diamond plate that is molded for your teeth. It is decorated with diamonds and/or gold. Uusally worn by rappers.
Jeezy ‘Goldmine’ 🎵 We was in that bitch all like Lil Wayne grill.
[UK]G. Krauze What They Was 21: Rob, shoot, trap, spend the profits on some diamond grillz for your teeth .

In phrases

all up in someone’s grill

(US campus) aggressively confronting someone, whether verbally or physically.

[US]Eble Campus Sl. Nov. 1: all up in one’s grill – in intense physical or verbal confrontation: ‘Man she sure is up in his grill about that, isn’t she?’.
[US]Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 grill Definition: 1. face, 2. ones personal space. Example: Dat nigga be’s gettin’ all up in muh grill and shit.
[UK]L. Theroux Call of the Weird (2006) 187: The rapper whose turn it was would [...] bring his face close, getting ‘right up in his grill,’.
[US]S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 172: ‘Fools would be all up in his grill asking for autographs and shit’.