groom

Etymology 1

1604, short for bridegroom (“husband-to-be”), from Middle English brydgrome, alteration (with intrusive r) of earlier bridegome (“bridegroom”), from Old English brȳdguma (“bridegroom”), from brȳd (“bride”) + guma (“man, hero”). In Middle English, the second element was re-analyzed as or influenced by grom, grome (“attendant”). Guma derives from Proto-Germanic *gumô (“man, person”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰǵʰm̥mō; it is cognate to Icelandic gumi and Norwegian gume and, ultimately, human.

noun

1. A man who is about to marry.

Etymology 2

From Middle English grom, grome (“man-child, boy, youth”), of uncertain origin. Apparently related to Middle Dutch grom (“boy”), Old Icelandic grómr, gromr (“man, manservant, boy”), Old French gromme (“manservant”), and also to Middle Dutch grom (“fish guts”), Middle Low German grôm (“fish guts”), from the same Proto-Germanic root. Possibly from Old English *grōma, from Proto-West Germanic *grōmō, *grōm (“swollen belly, stomach tumour, womb-child, fish roe, fish guts”), from Proto-Germanic *grōaną (“to grow”). Alternative etymology describes Middle English grom, grome as an alteration of gome (“man”) with an intrusive r (also found in bridegroom, hoarse, cartridge, etc.), with the Middle Dutch and Old Icelandic cognates following similar variation of their respective forms.

noun

1. A person who looks after horses.
   Toward the end of the war, Benoit was sent off on his own with forged papers; he wound up working as a horse groom at a chalet in the Loire valley. Mandelbrot describes this harrowing youth with great sangfroid. 2013-01, Brian Hayes, “Father of Fractals”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 1, page 62
2. One of several officers of the English royal household, chiefly in the lord chamberlain's department.
   the groom of the chamber; the groom of the stole
3. (archaic) A male servant, or more generally, a common man.
4. A brushing or cleaning, as of a dog or horse.
   Give the mare a quick groom before you take her out.

verb

1. To attend to one's appearance and clothing.
2. (transitive) To care for (horses or other animals) by brushing and cleaning them.
3. (transitive) To prepare (someone) for an event
   It appears that Broderick's seconds, although cool, brave men, were entirely without experience in arranging a duel, and did not know that a man should be groomed for one as carefully as a horse is groomed for a race. 1912, The Contest for California in 1861: How Colonel E.D. Baker Saved the Pacific States to the Union, page 51
4. (transitive) To prepare (someone) for election or appointment.
   It is of special interest to note the subjects considered as important to those who are being groomed for top administrative posts 1953, The President's Report to the Board of Regents for the Academic Year page 146
   2002, Clone High episode 1 - "Escape to Beer Mountain: A Rope of Sand" Our mission is to unfreeze those clones, send them back to high school, and secretly groom them to one day rule the world. Failure to do so could mean world leaders just keep getting worse.
   2009, Dani Johnson, Grooming the Next Generation for Success
   India is run by gerontocrats and epigones: grey hairs and groomed heirs. 2013-05-11, “What a waste”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8835, page 12
5. (transitive) To attempt to gain the trust of a minor with the intention of luring them into a sexual relationship.
   2009, Suzanne Ost, Child Pornography and Sexual Grooming: Legal and Societal Responses
6. (transitive, software engineering) In agile software development, to review and prioritize the items in the development backlog.
7. (transitive) To prepare (a ski slope) for skiers by packing down the snow.