Literary notes about grue (AI summary)
The term "grue" assumes a rich versatility in literature, functioning both as a descriptor of a chilling, shuddering sensation and as a proper name imbued with an enigmatic quality. In certain narratives, it conveys a physical or emotional shiver—as when a character feels an unexplained trembling in moments of dread or discomfort ([1], [2], [3], [4])—while in other contexts it emerges as a distinctive character or place name that enhances the text’s mysterious or folkloric milieu ([5], [6], [7], [8]). At times, "grue" even occupies proverbial and idiomatic territory, extending its meaning to expressions of disgust or foreboding ([9], [10], [11]). This multi-layered usage underlines how writers harness "grue" both as a vivid sensory detail and as a signifier of deeper, often unsettling, narrative undertones ([12], [13]).
- At the moment, in spite of the warmth, he had what the Scotch call a "grue," and shivered where he stood.
— from The Wooden Hand: A Detective Story by Fergus Hume - The flesh is said to grue when a chilly sensation passes over the surface of the body.
— from St. Ronan's Well by Walter Scott - I, too, felt myself growing paler, felt again the cold grue, as if the wind of death had stirred my hair.
— from A Woman Named Smith by Marie Conway Oemler - Fegs, the Latin has it best: ' Horresco referens '--'It gies me a grue to think o't.'
— from Flower o' the Heather: A Story of the Killing Times by Robert William MacKenna - "For a totally new species of human being, Grue.
— from Police!!! by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers - She glanced at the water's edge, where Grue stood, immovable, his back still turned to us.
— from Police!!! by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers - I brought him up, and we had supper at the Grue.
— from Life of Father Ignatius of St. Paul, Passionist (The Hon. & Rev. George Spencer). by Pius a Sp. Sancto (Pius a Spiritu Sancto) - Grue had disappeared into the forest; I stood watching for him to come out again.
— from Police!!! by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers - Un moineau dans la main vaut mieux qu’une grue qui vole.
— from A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs - Pettigrew and Pettifer are of French origin, pied de grue (crane) and pied de fer .
— from The Romance of Names by Ernest Weekley - Grue or grew; to turn from with disgust:—'He grued at the physic.'
— from English As We Speak It in Ireland by P. W. (Patrick Weston) Joyce - Glenlivat, a celebrated whisky distillery. Gowk, a fool. Grue, to shiver.
— from St. Ronan's Well by Walter Scott - Upon all other the sight of Alison, were it but for a moment, cast a cold grue, not to be remembered without terror.
— from The Watcher by the Threshold by John Buchan
