''grommet'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260915190735-00-⌔

grommet - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Noun

grommet (plural grommets)

• A reinforced eyelet, or a small metal or plastic ring used to reinforce an eyelet.
• (nautical) A ring formed of a single strand of rope, laid in three times round, fastening the upper edge of a sail to its stay.
• (flags) An eyelet at the hoist end of a flag, used to fasten the flag to its halyard.
• (slang, surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding) A young or inexperienced surfer, skateboarder, or snowboarder.
  • ✤ Synonyms: grem, gremlin, gremmie, gremmy
• A boy serving on a ship.

Verb

grommet (third-person singular simple present grommets, present participle grommeting, simple past and past participle grommeted)

• (transitive) To insert a grommet into.
  • ✤ The device takes the form of a guard for the punch presses which are used in grommeting mail bags in the process of manufacture.¹
  • ✤ There was little point in grommeting the hole, since the wrapping was already as rigid and tough as its invisibility permitted.²
• (transitive) To fasten using a grommet.
• (intransitive) To apply grommets.

Etymology

From obsolete French gromette (“curb chain”) (modern spelling gourmette).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈɡɹɒm.ɪt/, /ˈɡɹʌm.ɪt/
• (US) IPA: /ˈɡɹɑ.mɪt/
• Audio (Australia): 🔊
• Rhymes: -ɒmɪt

Printed 2026-09-15.

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Footnotes

1. 1923, “American Machinist”, in ‎${}^{[1]}$, volume 58, numbers 23-26, page 919: ↩

2. 2007, Wil McCarthy, The Wellstone ‎${}^{[2]}$, page 225: ↩