grabass

See also: grab-ass and grab ass

English

Alternative forms

• grab ass, grab-ass

Etymology

From grab +‎ ass.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹæbˌæs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: grab‧ass

Noun

grabass (uncountable)

1. (informal, often used with the verb play) Sexual groping; erotic horseplay.
   • 1976, Thomas Glynn, Temporary Sanity: A Novel, →ISBN, page 66:

     [T]hey wouldn't do any work then, just hang around and drink and play grabass with her and she didn't want that.

   • 1997, Lee K. Abbott, “Chapter One of Wet Places at Noon”, in New York Times, retrieved 11 December 2015:

     Bobby was bear-hugging Sammy Vaughn and then playing grab-ass with Sammy's ex-wife Alice.

   • 2010, Regan Taylor, The Glass Cage, →ISBN, page 81:

     "I'm thinking a rousing game of grabass is in my future while you load the dishwasher." . . .
     "So y'all plannin' on grabbing my ass?"
     "That and a few other tempting body parts."

2. (informal, often used with the verb play) Rowdy behavior; general horseplay or foolery.
   • 1967, Cool Hand Luke, spoken by Carr (Clifton James):

     There's no playing grab-ass or fighting in the building. You got a grudge against another man, you fight him Saturday afternoon. Any man playing grab-ass or fighting in the building spends a night in the box.

   • 1977, Philip Caputo, A Rumor of War (2014 Macmillan edition), →ISBN, p. 46 (Google preview):

     "Anything else? Yes, Lieutenant Lemmon?"

     "Yes, sir," Lemmon drawled. "How do I get out of this chicken-shit outfit?"

     "Knock off the grabass, Glen. Okay, listen up. When you brief your people, make it clear that our mission is defensive only."

Verb

grabass (third-person singular simple present grabasses, present participle grabassing, simple past and past participle grabassed)

1. (informal) To fool around.
   • 1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC:

     The Paranoids were singing, to the tune of ‘Adeste Fideles’: […] grabassing around, trying to push each other over the side.

Anagrams

• gas bars