to take a grinder
Preserved but no longer current.
An obsolete gesture of obloquy and insult, performed by applying the left thumb to the nose and revolving the right hand round it, as if working a hand-organ or coffee-mill; done when someone had tried to practise on your credulity, or to impose upon your good faith.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to take a grinder” mean?
An obsolete gesture of obloquy and insult, performed by applying the left thumb to the nose and revolving the right hand round it, as if working a hand-organ or coffee-mill; done when someone had tried to practise on your credulity, or to impose upon your good faith.
Is “to take a grinder” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.