Interesting words: Groak
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Groak: (Rhymes with cloak)

Definition

v. To watch people while they are eating, hoping they will ask you to join them. (from Mrs. Byrne’s Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure and Preposterous Words by Josefa H. Byrne).

Etymology

Unknown.

Usage

This is a simply marvelous word. What a great language English is! How many of us have groaked without knowing it, or watched people groak and shunned them?

Examples

Groaking probably peaks in the tween and adolescent years, as cliques try to mark their territory by excluding others.

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One difference between dogs and cats is that dogs groak while cats do not.

Frequency

Groak is about 1 in a billion words, but rising rapidly.

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This is part of a series on words. I intend to publish a collection of these early next year, to be titled Interesting Words.
['Peter Flom']
['Words', 'English Language', 'Loneliness', 'English']