Gruel

Quick meaning: Gruel is a noun meaning A thin, watery porridge, formerly eaten primarily by the poor and the ill.

Meaning

A thin, watery porridge, formerly eaten primarily by the poor and the ill.

More Meanings

1. Punishment.
2. Something that lacks substance.
3. (transitive) To exhaust, use up, disable.
4. (transitive) To punish.
5. (slang, US, obsolete) Sentimental poetry.
6. (slang, British) Semen.
7. (slang, British) Ejaculate.

Example Sentences

“It’s not that bad,” said Tiger defensively. “The foundlings rarely have to share blankets these days, and the gruel no longer has a consistency thinner than water.

[…]her own cook at South End, a young woman hired for the time, who never had been able to understand what she meant by a basin of nice smooth gruel, thin, but not too thin.

[…]Father had one of his awful colds, so Dora persuaded him not to go to London, but to stay cosy and warm in the study, and she made him some gruel. She makes it better than Eliza does; Eliza's gruel is all little lumps, and when you suck them it is dry oatmeal inside.

Word Forms

• gruels
• grueling
• gruelling
• grueled
• gruelled

Synonyms for gruel

Depending on context, synonyms include castigation, punition, chastening, chastisement, correction, punishment.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include gruelling, punishing, arduous, laborious, backbreaking, toilsome.

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