• (America) enPR: grĭn, IPA: /ɡɹɪn/

grin (plural grins)

1. A smile in which the lips are parted to reveal the teeth.
   • 1997, Linda Howard, Son of the Morning, Simon & Schuster, pages 364:

     When the ceremony was finished a wide grin broke across his face, and it was that grin she saw, relieved and happy all at once.

   • 2003, Yoko Ogawa, The Housekeeper and the Professor:

     When my son appeared at the door the next day with his schoolbag on his back, the Professor broke into a wide grin and opened his arms to embrace him.

• German: Grinsen
• Italian: sorriso
• Portuguese: sorriso aberto
• Russian: усме́шка
• Spanish: sonrisa abierta, sonrisa amplia

grin (grins, present participle grinning; past and past participle grinned)

1. (intransitive) To smile, parting the lips so as to show the teeth.

   Why do you grin?  Did I say something funny?

2. (transitive) To express by grinning.

   She grinned pleasure at his embarrassment.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 2”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:

     Grinned horrible a ghastly smile.

   • 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter IV, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326 ↗:

     "Mid-Lent, and the Enemy grins," remarked Selwyn as he started for church with Nina and the children. Austin, knee-deep in a dozen Sunday supplements, refused to stir; poor little Eileen was now convalescent from grippe, but still unsteady on her legs; her maid had taken the grippe, and now moaned all day: "Mon dieu! Mon dieu! Che fais mourir!"

3. (intransitive, dated) To show the teeth, like a snarling dog.
   • 1591, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene iii]:

     The pangs of death do make him grin.

   • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], OCLC 752825175 ↗:

     They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.

4. (transitive) To grin as part of producing a particular facial expression, such as a smile or sneer.

   He grinned a broad smile when I told him the result.

   He grinned a cruel sneer when I begged him to stop.

• French: sourire
• German: grinsen
• Italian: sorridere
• Portuguese: sorrir abertamente, arreganhar
• Russian: ухмыля́ться
• Spanish: sonreír

grin (plural grins)

1. (obsolete) A snare; a gin.

   • Like a bird that hasteth to his grin.