subs. (common).—1. A beating; PUNISHMENT (q.v.). For synonyms, see TANNING. Hence, TO GET (or GIVE) ONE’S GRUEL = to castigate, or be well beaten; also killed. In the prize ring = to knock a man out for good. GRUELLED = floored; also GRUELLING.
1815. SCOTT, Guy Mannering, ch. xxviii. He gathered in general, that they expressed great indignation against some individual. ‘He shall have his GRUEL,’ said one.
1837. R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends, ‘The Babes in the Wood.’
| He that was mildest in mood | |
| GAVE the truculent rascal HIS GRUEL. |
1849. C. KINGSLEY, Alton Locke, ch. xii. They were as well GRUELLED as so many posters, before they got to the stile.
1888. Sporting Life, 15 Dec. Preferred to be easily knocked out to TAKING HIS GRUEL like a man.
1891. Licensed Victuallers’ Gazette, 23 Jan. Both men were badly punished, but George had, of course, the lion’s share of the GRUEL.
1891. Licensed Victuallers’ Mirror, 30 Jan., p. 7, c. 3. All the advantage rested with the same side for some little time, Paddock getting such a GRUELLING that his head swelled out like a pumpkin.
2. (American thieves’).—Coffee.
1859. G. W. MATSELL, Vocabulum; or, The Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.
