- groove (n.)
- c. 1400, "cave; mine; pit dug in the earth" (late 13c. in place names), from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse grod "pit," or from Middle Dutch groeve "furrow, ditch" (Modern Dutch groef), both from Proto-Germanic *grobo (source also of Old Norse grof "brook, river bed," Old High German gruoba "ditch," German Grube "a pit, hole, ditch, grave," Gothic groba "pit, cave," Old English græf "ditch, grave"), from PIE root *ghrebh- (2) "to dig, bury, scratch" (see grave (n.)). Sense of "long, narrow channel or furrow," especially as cut by a tool, is 1650s. Meaning "spiral cut in a phonograph record" is from 1902. Figurative sense of "routine" is from 1842, often deprecatory at first, "a rut."
- groove (v.)
- 1680s, "make a groove, cut a channel in," from groove (n.). Slang sense is from 1930s (see groovy). Related: Grooved; grooving.
