Welcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday, a great meme for learning new vocabulary. My friend Nan, fellow English major and lover of all things literary, inspired my entry when she shared this unusual word on Facebook: growlery.
Have you ever heard of a growlery? Read on, word nerds, because it’s a “must have.”
To learn more interesting words, visit meme hostess Kathy at her Bermuda Onion blog.
Merriam-Webster couldn’t help me with this one, so I searched online:
growlery \grou-‘ler-ē\ noun; a place of refuge or retreat when one is out of sorts or in ill-humor.
Thank you, Collins English Dictionary, for the definition of this archaic word.
Urban Dictionary defines it: a den or lair in which to prowl with one’s growler out.
Online Slang Dictionary takes a different approach: something undesirable to the point of disgust
That movie is a growlery.
Dickens often referred to a growlery in his novel Bleak House. Here’s a photo of a growlery, from Lambert’s Suburban Architecture (1894):
Lambert’s Suburban Architecture describes this illustration:
A study or growlery is just as dear to a man’s heart as a boudoir is to a woman’s ; and the master of the house deserves to have some corner which shall be his very own, whither he can retire when he wishes to read or work, or simply smoke and rest, or receive business visitors, blissfully undisturbed by the rest of the household.
I’m sure I’m not the only woman who thinks that she deserves a growlery too!
Word Nerd Workout
Imagine you could have a growlery in your house. What would it look like? Where would it be? What would you do there, “blissfully undisturbed by the rest of the household”?
Mine would be a small room not shared with anything else. I would paint the walls moss-green, and it would have several windows looking out over the farm. I would escape to that room to read, write, paint, and read. The walls would not let sound in, and the door would have a solid lock.
Thanks for getting nerdy with me today.
Be sure to visit Kathy’s blog for more word nerdy words.
And if you like old words, read this article from The Atlantic on the social networks built around archaic terms.
Julia
I had never heard of such a word until last week when I was reading Kate Atkinson’s novel “A God in Ruins”, in which Hugh has a ‘growlery’. It is never properly described but seemed to be a place to retire to after working in the garden for a glass of something relaxing. It’s a great novel, by the way, though best read after her “Life after Life” which is about the same family living near Beaconsfield.
Well, I hope now you have a better understanding of growlery! And thanks for the book suggestions. I always love to hear about good books. Thanks for stopping by!
I want a growlery, too. We’re building a house with a four season room off the living room. It will have a double sided stone fireplace, a wall of bookshelves, lots of windows, and a comfy sofa. I plan to make this my growlery. Oh, and it’s going to be miss green. Lol
Sounds wonderful! Good luck with this project, and thanks for stopping by!
In the Ramayana, the great epic of Ancient India, there is mention of the kopa gruha, “the room of anger, which was a part of a dwelling where one could retire to work off a bad mood”–I suppose that would be a version of a growlery.
Wow, what a cool piece of cultural information. Thank you very much for adding this to the discussion! Now, a growlery doesn’t sound like a man cave at all… I think many a woman could use such a place. 😉
Pardon me for butting in to your world, but I am the proud owner of a Growlery. It is not a study, studio, nor shop, nor library, nor, God forbid, a Man Cave – which smacks of lite beer and big screen T.V.s, The Growlery has heat, books, tools, a small refrigerator and a sound system …. although it does smell of stale cigars, spilled craft beer and lubricating oil. As She says, “It smells like men in here!”
http://oakwoodlife.blogspot.com/2015/07/first-important-thing.html
Ha, ha! Thank you for expanding upon my clearly insufficient description! Cheers to you, and enjoy your Growlery. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to share a picture?
I see if readers would like to see photos, they need to click on the link to Oakwoodlife. Thanks for sharing!
http://oakwoodlife.blogspot.com/2013/09/visual-produce.html
My growlery would have lots of windows, climate control, and a comfy chair and reading light. And a lock on the door!
The lock is an essential. 😉
I would love my own growlery. Mine would consist of a sunny bay window with soft cushions, just right for reading books.
With two teenage daughters in the house, YES, we need a growlery!
And I admit, I would use it as much as they do — especially for the times when I look around the house at all the uncompleted chores and see the two daughters watching TV, munching on chips, and dribbling crumbs into the sofa. Their humor: excellent. My humor: very ill.
I now have two teenagers, one boy one girl. Yikes! I’m so glad I’m not the only one with an ill humor upon the sight of crumbs. I tend to get resentful when I’m working and everyone else is relaxing in front of the TV. Perhaps one day I’ll run away to my growlery and read. 😉
I have always wanted a space for myself. A growlery is a great name, as I no doubt would “growl” about my state of affairs, while there. When I first saw your word I thought of growler, a word I learned while in Ft Collins CO the site of many craft beer makers. A growler is: a container( can or pitcher) for beer bought by the measure. My son-in-law has 2 glass jugs he calls growlers. Do you suppose they go hand in hand. Take the growler to the growlery and enjoy a pint or sip?
I so revel in learning new words☺️
Happy to help that process! It’s a great habit.
Nice to meet you… I tried to find that vocabulary list, but the link cricketmusings.wordpress.com led to a dead end. Are you blogging actively somewhere else?
I definitely want a growlery! Mine would be nice and sunny and have a great sound system, a fireplace, bookcases, and a chaise longue.
I think every woman should have one, good word.
Julia, I love your word today, growlery. It sounds like its meaning, and is wonderful. It’s probably related to today’s “man cave”, although I think a growlery would be smaller.
If I had a growlery, I wouldn’t smoke in it to unwind, but I’d certainly read in it.
Love it. My growlery looks just like yours! Especially the sound-proof walls
Sound proof walls = essential
Oh, I love this word (by that I mean “now I love it,” since I hadn’t heard of it before)! Mine would be cozy with a nice fireplace like the photo above and a round door. Bookshelves, windows, (of course, with shutters), a comfy chair, a hot plate and snack corner (ooo, I mean a “larder”), and oil lamps for lighting. Sort of my own private hobbit hole 🙂
It sounds exactly like a hobbit hole. Thanks for the reminder about snacks… those would be critical, especially if my hefty lock is in place. I’m a bit of a hobbit myself, even though I know elves are much cooler. But I’m short, I like to piddle in my garden, and I love a second breakfast. 😉