greet
pronunciation
How to pronounce greet in British English:
UK [ɡriːt]
How to pronounce greet in American English:
US [ɡriːt]
-
- Verb:
- express greetings upon meeting someone
- send greetings to
- react to in a certain way
- be perceived by
Word Origin
- greet (v.)
- Old English gretan "to come in contact with" in any sense ("attack, accost" as well as "salute, welcome," and "touch, take hold of, handle," as in hearpan gretan "to play the harp"), "seek out, approach," from West Germanic *grotjan (cognates: Old Saxon grotian, Old Frisian greta, Dutch groeten, Old High German gruozen, German grüßen "to salute, greet"), of uncertain origin. In English, German, and Dutch, the primary sense has become "to salute," but the word once had much broader meaning. Perhaps originally "to resound" (via notion of "cause to speak"), causative of Proto-Germanic *grætanan, root of Old English grætan (Anglian gretan) "weep, bewail," from PIE *gher- (2) "to call out." Greet still can mean "cry, weep" in Scottish & northern England dialect, though this might be from a different root. Grætan probably also is the source of the second element in regret. Related: Greeted; greeting.
Example
- 1. I wouldn 't mind if the air plane stuck his tongue out to greet me !
- 2. Service is attentive , even when the chef isn 't around to personally greet guests in his gracious manner .
- 3. For $ 62 , jet quay personnel will greet you at arrival and escort you through main terminal areas .
- 4. Survivors of near-death experiences typically mention shining figures who , at the end of tunnels , greet and help them .
- 5. When karl heinz vogeley climbs down from the train at 3:30 a.m. clutching his old wooden suitcase , his relatives are there to greet him .