grue

Etymology 1

From Middle English gruen, probably from Middle Low German gruwen or Middle Dutch gruwen (compare Dutch gruwen), both from Proto-Germanic *grūwijaną, perhaps ultimately an imitative derivative of Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰers- (“to bristle”), or instead from *gʰer- (“to rub, stroke, grind”).

verb

1. (intransitive, archaic) To be frightened; to shudder with fear.
   “It is seenteen hundred linen,” said the pedlar, giving a tweak to one of the shirts, in that knowing manner with which matrons and judges ascertain the texture of the loom ; “it’s seenteen hundred linen, and as strong as an it were dowlas. Nevertheless, mother, your bidding is to be done ; and I would have done Mr. Mordaunt’s bidding too,” he added, relaxing from his note of defiance, into the deferential whining tone with which he cajoled his customers, “if he hadna made use of profane oaths which made my very flesh grue, and caused me, in some sort, to forget myself.” 1822, Sir Walter Scott, The Pirate, volume I, Philadelphia: H. C. Carey and I. Lea, pages 111–112

noun

1. A shiver, a shudder.
   One man only worked on the place, a doited lad who had long been a charge to the parish, and who had not the sense to fear danger or the wit to understand it. Upon all others the sight of Alison, were it but for a moment, cast a cold grue, not to be remembered without terror. 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide
   There was a sharp grue of ice in the air. 1921, John Buchan, chapter 9, in The Path of the King
   1964, Geoffrey Jenkins, A Grue of Ice (title)

Etymology 2

Back-formation from gruesome.

noun

1. Any byproduct of a gruesome event, such as gore, viscera, entrails, blood and guts.
   The butcher was covered in the accumulated grue of a hard day's work
   There was grue everywhere after the accident
   'I've told you - it wasn't much. He tried to kiss me.' She smiled slightly. 'Just after he had shown me the family skeletons.' / 'What a lovely bit of grue!' 1958, Samuel Youd, writing as John Christopher, The Caves of Night
   Carrie is Cinderella in the body language of menstrual blood and raging hormones. King’s adolescent joy in grimaces and groans, the Mad magazine humor, and the staple of “grue” hardly need mentioning. 1996, Linda Badley, Writing Horror and the Body http://print.google.com/print?hl=en&id=iaHQorgoqd4C&pg=PA39&lpg=PA39&sig=0unz5oiZA5IURViNe75MsU7vHG4
   2002, Carole Nelson Douglas, Chapel Noir http://print.google.com/print?hl=en&id=ZZu4sl0P1EAC&pg=PA336&lpg=PA336&sig=dPR0ntE54xw-h3m6fByM0fgJiuc “… She is quite agreeable to gruesome ghost stories, but appalled by the lust for life.” / “I admit that I am surprised by how well she handles sheer grue, better than I.”
   2004, Talbot Mundy, Guns of the Gods http://print.google.com/print?hl=en&id=PUCcyz2L1iwC&pg=PA244&lpg=PA244&sig=REDDP_txW9FrUWEogxny6lZ4wUo “This is the grue,” said Dick, holding his lantern high. / Its light fell on a circle of skeletons, all perfect, each with its head toward a brass bowl in the center.

Etymology 3

Probably from gruesome; first used in Jack Vance's Dying Earth universe in the 1940s, but popularized by the text-based computer game Zork in 1980.

noun

1. A fictional man-eating predator that dwells in the dark.
   I managed to get into the house through the front once, but I was plunged into darkness and eaten by a monster called a grue. 1981, Byte, volume 6
   To find a grue, turn off the light at night, or go for a walk in a dark place (but carry a flashlight with you). 2009, Jas, “Hazadous Australian animals the GRUE.... your guide”, in rec.travel.australia+nz (Usenet)
   Incidentally, the best official text description I know of is in Sorcerer, when you actually become a grue and visit a grue colony. IIRC, even that description is vague, but does cannonize that they are large four-legged reptiles. 2004, M.D. Dollahite, “How would you imagine a grue?”, in rec.games.int-fiction (Usenet)

Etymology 4

Blend of green + blue. The philosophy sense was coined by American philosopher Nelson Goodman in 1955 to illustrate concepts in the philosophy of science. The linguistic sense was coined by American linguist Paul Kay in 1975 as a translation from languages such as Welsh that have a basic cover term that covers both the hues called "green" and "blue" in English.

adj

1. (philosophy) Of an object, green when first observed before a specified time or blue when first observed after that time.
   The grue property is defined as: x is grue if and only if x is green and is observed before the year 2000, or x is blue and is not observed before the year 2000. 1965, Nelson Goodman, Fact, Fiction and Forecast
   The unexamined emeralds cannot be both green and grue, since if they are grue and unexamined they are blue. 2007, Michael Clark, Paradoxes from A to Z
2. (linguistics) A single color inclusive of both green and blue as different shades, used in translations from languages such as old Welsh and Chinese that lacked a distinction between green and blue.

Etymology 5

noun

1. (slang) Nutraloaf, a bland mixture of foods served in prisons.