grough

G2R1O1U1G2H4
/ɡɹʌf/

noun

A natural channel or gully in a peat moor, sometimes very steep and deep, and through which water sometimes flows. (Compare hag.)

Scrabble 11
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

noungrough (plural groughs)

plural groughs · alternative gruff

  1. A natural channel or gully in a peat moor, sometimes very steep and deep, and through which water sometimes flows. (Compare hag.)

    The shallow slow-running groughs fed the hag with a trickle of coppery water.

    2017, Benjamin Myers, The Gallows Pole, Bloomsbury, published 2019, page 101
    1 more example

    […] leaving you "pathless" in the middle of the moor. […] you step into the nearest grough […] after a hundred yards or so, the grough that you have so wisely chosen, now has sides of eleven feet high and according to your compass, has wandered off course and is now definitely not taking you in your intended direction.

    2014 May 1, Pete Draper, Bivouacs and Other Nocturnal Wanderings, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 68

Origin

Possibly the same word as gruff (“rough”, adjective), describing the terrain. Compare clough.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Sounds the same

gruff
Cite this entry
APA

grough. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grough

MLA

“grough.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grough. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “grough,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grough.

Source: grough on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.