Re: Words that end in -gry

[Linda Strauss <lstraus1@OPTONLINE.NET>]

This is a lot more than you probably want to know about this, but this is a
compilation of the answers to this question quite awhile ago on this listserv:

original riddle, which was : "There are a number of words endinging in
"-gry" :
hungry and angry are two, but what is the third word in the English
language? The answer : language (the third word in "the English
language") - Andrew Ormerod, Kew, London
Interestingly enough, a second letter did what we LM_Netters did, try to
provide a list, including GRY was a name proposed by John Locke for one
hundredth of an inch.
Okay, okay, here's the others in the list : aggry (a kind of African
bead), ahungry, anhungry, begry, bewgry, borough-mongry, bowgry, braggry,
cottagry, higry pigry, iggry, losengry, margry, malgry, maugry, meagry,
menagry, messagry, nangry, podagry, pottingry, puggry, skugry, and vegry.
All listed in the Oxford English Dictionary.
article by Richard Lederer on this subject:
http://pw1.netcom.com/~rlederer/gry.htm
Michael Quinion has a most interesting discussion--there is more than one
answer--on his World Wide Words site http://www.quinion.com/words/ for
Saturday, October 23, 1999. If you wish to go straight to the discussion
try http://www.quinion.com/words/articles/gry.htm
An alternative: http://members.aol.com/WordPlays/gryriddle.html
http://www.geocities.com/loisnotlane/gry.html


Perhaps the whole puzzler is more a grade school antic than anything else.
The way I heard the setup for the question was this:

           There are three words in the English language that end with
"gry." One is hungry and the other is angry. What is the third word?
Everyone  uses this word every day, everyone knows what it means, and knows
what it stands for. If you have listened very closely I have already told
you the third word.
      If you read the second sentence you see that the "third" word is
"hungry".
The author is writing here about the third word in the second sentence of
the riddle, exactly as quoted, NOT some mythical third commonly used
English word ending in "-gry". We admit this is a rather stupid riddle, but
then we we didn't make it up; we just answer it, over, and over, and over.

The Word Detective may be found on the web at http://www.word-detective.com.

Aside from "angry" and "hungry" and words derived therefrom, there is
only one word ending with "-gry" in Webster's Third Unabridged: "aggry."
However, this word is defective in that it is part of a phrase "aggry beads."
The OED's usage examples all talk about "aggry beads."

Moving to older dictionaries, we find that "gry" itself is a word in Webster's
Second Unabridged (and the OED):

gry, n. [L. gry, a trifle; Gr. gry, a grunt]
    1. a measure equal to one-tenth of a line. [Obs.] (Obs. = obsolete)
    2. anything very small. [Rare.]

This is a list of 100 words, phrases and names ending in "gry":
[Explanation of references is given at the end of the list.]

aggry [OED:1:182; W2; W3]
Agry Dagh (Mount Agry) [EB11]
ahungry [OED:1:194; FW; W2]
angry [OED; FW; W2; W3]
anhungry [OED:1:332; W2]
Badagry [Johnston; EB11]
Ballingry [Bartholomew:40; CLG:151; RD:164, pl.49]
begry [OED:1:770,767]
bewgry [OED:1:1160]
bowgry [OED:1:1160]
braggry [OED:1:1047]
Bugry [TIG]
Chockpugry [Worcester]
Cogry [BBC]
cony-gry [OED:2:956]
conyngry [OED:2:956]
Croftangry [DFC, as "Chrystal Croftangry"]
dog-hungry [W2]
Dshagry [Stieler]
Dzagry [Andree]
eard-hungry [CED (see "yird"); CSD]
Echanuggry [Century:103-104, on inset map, Key 104 M 2]
Egry [France; TIG]
ever-angry [W2]
fire-angry [W2]
Gagry [EB11]
gry (from Latin _gry_) [OED:4/2:475; W2]
gry (from Romany _grai_) [W2]
haegry [EDD (see "hagery")]
half-angry [W2]
hangry [OED:1:329]
heart-angry [W2]
heart-hungry [W2]
higry pigry [OED:5/1:285]
hogry [EDD (see "huggerie"); CSD]
hogrymogry [EDD (see "huggerie"); CSD (as "hogry-mogry")]
hongry [OED:5/1:459; EDD:3:282]
huggrymuggry [EDD (see "huggerie"); CSD (as "huggry-muggry")]
hungry [OED; FW; W2; W3]
Hungry Bungry [Daily Illini, in ad for The Giraffe, Spring 1976]
iggry [OED]
Jagry [EB11]
kaingry [EDD (see "caingy")]
land-hungry [OED; W2]
leather-hungry [OED]
Langry [TIG; Times]
Lisnagry [Bartholomew:489]
MacLoingry [Phillips (as "Flaithbhertach MacLoingry")]
mad-angry [OED:6/2:14]
mad-hungry [OED:6/2:14]
magry [OED:6/2:36, 6/2:247-48]
malgry [OED:6/2:247]
man-hungry [OED]
Margry [Indians (see "Pierre Margry" in bibliog., v.2, p.1204)]
maugry [OED:6/2:247-48]
mawgry [OED:6/2:247]
meagry [OED:6/2:267]
meat-hungry [W2]
menagry [OED (see "managery")]
messagry [OED]
nangry [OED]
overangry [RH1; RH2]
Pelegry [CE (in main index as "Raymond de Pelegry")]
Pingry [Bio-Base; HPS:293-94, 120-21]
podagry [OED; W2 (below the line)]
Pongry [Andree (Supplement, p.572)]
pottingry [OED:7/2:1195; Jamieson:3:532]
puggry [OED:8/1:1573; FW; W2]
pugry [OED:8/1:1574]
rungry [EDD:5:188]
scavengry [OED (in 1715 quote under "scavengery")]
Schtschigry [LG/1:2045; OSN:97]
Seagry [TIG; EB11]
Segry [Johnston; Andree]
self-angry [W2]
self-hungry ?
Shchigry [CLG:1747; Johnson:594; OSN:97,206; Times:185,pl.45]
shiggry [EDD]
Shtchigry [LG/1:2045; LG/2:1701]
Shtshigry [Lipp]
skugry [OED:9/2:156, 9/1:297; Jamieson:4:266]
Sygry [Andree]
Tangry [France]
Tchangry [Johnson:594; LG/1:435,1117]
Tchigry [Johnson:594]
tear-angry [W2]
tike-hungry [CSD]
Tingry [France; EB11 (under "Princesse de Tingry")]
toggry [Simmonds (as "Toggry", but all entries are capitalized)]
ulgry [Partridge; Smith:24-25]
unangry [OED; W2]
vergry [OED:12/1:123]
Virgy [CLG:2090]
Wirgy [CLG:2090; NAP:xxxix; Times:220, pl.62; WA:948]
wind-angry.
wind-hungry [W2]
yeard-hungry [CED (see "yird")]
yerd-hungry [CED (see "yird"); OED]
yird-hungry [CED (see "yird")]
Ymagry [OED:1:1009 (col. 3, 1st "boss" verb), (variant of "imagery")]


At 09:29 AM 4/3/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>I was hoping all of you could help me with a question posed by one of my =
>teachers.  She heard a trivia question, but did not hear the answer. =20
>What three words in the English language end in -gry?
>We know angry and hungry, but we couldn't get the third!
>Thanks!
>
>Sarah Prestwood, Media Specialist
>Rosman Middle/High School
>Rosman, NC=20
>sprestwo@transylvania.k12.nc.us



Linda Strauss, Librarian        lstraus1@optonline.net
Tottenville H.S. Library
100 Luten Ave, Staten Island, NY 10312
(718) 356-2220 ext 2054

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a
listening ear, an honest compliment on the smallest amount of caring - all
of which have the potential to turn a life
around
--Leo Buscaglia

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