grouch, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

grouch n.

[? backform. f. grouchy adj. but see ety. there]

(orig. US)

1. a grumpy, complaining person, or creature.

1887		Cincinnati Enquirier (OH) 6 Oct. 8/2: He is almost a total abstainer and never touches tobacco [...] While not a ‘grouch’ [...] he is thrifty, and takes good care of the money he makes.
1903		Ade People You Know 90: One was a Gusher and the other a Grouch.
1914		M. Glass Potash and Perlmutter 314: Klein ain’t such a grouch as most people think he is.
1925		Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves 204: Schopenhauer. That’s the name. A grouch of the most pronounced description.
1939		W. Winchell On Broadway 11 Jan. [synd. col.] Our idea of a grouch is a guy who goes to a Hedy Lamarr movie and squawks because there’s no story to it!
1947		S. Lewis Kingsblood Royal (2001) 107: They had been ‘cranks’ and ‘grouches’.
1956		J. Thompson ‘The Cellini Chalice’ in Fireworks (1988) 70: ‘An awful old grouch [...] just as mean as he could be.’.
1960		N. Fitzgerald Candles Are All Out 155: Darling, I don’t know what’s the matter with you, you’ve become such an old grouch.
1978		A. Maupin Tales of the City (1984) 48: Oh, all right! If you’re going to be a grouch about it.
1986		S. King It (1987) 408: Mr Keene was a grouch and wouldn’t let the kids under twelve eat their stuff at the soda fountain.
1991		R.G. Barratt ‘Ayatollah of the Airwaves?’ in What Do You Reckon (1997) [ebook] Lawsie gave him a $5000 computer [...] For a grouch he can be a strange bloke.
2000		M. Amis Experience 189: I thought her a snob and a grouch.

2. a bad temper.

1888		Peterson’s Mag. vol. 92 107/1: Not the man with a grouch playing the anvil chorus, finding everything wrong and grumbling his days away.
1895		J.S. Wood Yale Yarns 76: The good Deacon for a month had assumed the usual ‘grouch’ of a hard-working ‘dig.’ He was nervous, peevish, irritable, and unhappy.
1908		‘O. Henry’ ‘The Complete Life of John Hopkins’ in Voice of the City (1915) 18: Just show me the guy that you’ve got the grouch at.
1915		C.E.W. Bean Anzac Book 151: I’ve a grouch on jingo writers and the poets and them all, / Who have placed us common persons on a public pedestal.
1923		Dover Exp. 20 Apr. 11/5: [advert.] Do you known John Grouch. He’s a wearisome fellow. His face is full of woe and his temper is unbearable. He hates himself and nobody loves him. Don’t be a ‘John Grouch’ yourself — it’s probably your liver [...] ‘Bilax for Bile, will bring out the Smile.’ 1s. 3d. per bottle.
1923		E. O’Neill Hairy Ape Act IV: Leave him alone. He’s got a grouch on.
1934		T. Minehan Boy and Girl Tramps of America (1976) 125: Poorly dressed men with a grouch and a mean look are often the best prospects.
1936		Western Morn. News 3 Apr. 4/6: For years his friends used to call him ‘the grouch’ behind his back.
1940		E. O’Neill Iceman Cometh Act II: I lost my temper! [...] I’ve a hell of a grouch on.
1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 220: It was just a grouch.
1965		E. Bombeck At Wit’s End (1979) 122: They don’t look like Humpty Dumpty with a grouch.
1971		Wodehouse Much Obliged, Jeeves 136: It might be that he was like Florence and would work off his grouch on the first available innocent bystander.

3. a complaint.

1909		Eve. Star (Wash., DC) 19 Sept. 7/3: Now, I ain’t got any grouch against Durgan.
1913		H.G. Van Campen ‘Life on Broadway’ in McClure’s Mag. Mar. 39/2: If you got a grouch on ag’in’ a pal you throwed a purse of gold to a husky, with orders to put the rollers under him.
1915		S. Ford Shorty McCabe on the Job 116: We was to apply soothin’ acts and financial balm to all the old grouches that Pyramid had left behind him.
1919		C.H. Thorp Handful of Ausseys 170: Every time they want some blokes for fatique, it’s my platoon ’as ter do it [...] Thus the main ‘grouch’ of the foot-soldier.
1933		C. Drew ‘Sledgehammer Joe’ in Bulletin (Sydney) 19 July 48/1: I seen Sledgehammer screw up his nose, and knew he was working up for a grouch.
1966		D. Niland Pairs and Loners 40: What’s the grouch against me?

In compounds

grouch-bag (n.) [the image, among the actors who coined the term, of one who saved their money being a grumpy person]

1. a hidden pocket or purse, in which money can be secured.

1908		K. McGaffey Sorrows of a Show Girl 152: I have met gentlemen who threw the lid of their grouch bag in the gutter and didn’t care if they ever found it again.
1914		Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 39: grouch bag [...] Current amongst yeggs and western thieves. A place, as a pocket or receptacle, for concealing money or valuables.
1928		J. O’Connor Broadway Racketeers 218: The grouch bag was emptied.
1933		W. Scott ‘Take ’Im Alive’ Und. Mag. May 🌐 Where’d you hide the old grouch-bag, rat?
1949		F. Brown Dead Ringer 63: Look, the grouch-bag is overstufffed [...] let me give you twenty bucks.
1956		N. Algren Walk on the Wild Side 18: He could tell carnie hands and circus roustabouts because they took their money out of grouch-bags, pouches drawn by string, like tobacco pouches.
1966		R.E. Alter Carny Kill (1993) 17: Rob can’t turn down a carny buddy with an empty grouch bag.
1989		G. Marx Groucho and Me 67: I kept my money in a ‘grouch bag.’ This was a small chamois bag that actors used to wear.
2002		N & H Anderson Once More 48: The cashier at Walgreen’s smiled when he slowly opened his grouch bag.

2. the money hidden in it; thus grouch money, savings.

1914

Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 39: grouch bag [...] a reserve fund held in secret to the exclusion of fraternists. Example: ‘He’s under cover with a grouch bag.’.