a word applied to killer whales and other large, dolphin-like creatures, 1590s, earlier graundepose (1520s), altered (by influence of grand) from Middle English graspeys (late 13c.), from Anglo-French grampais, from Old French graspois, craspois "whale, (salted) whale meat; blubber; seal," from Medieval Latin craspicis, literally "great fish" or "fat fish," from Latin crassus "thick" (which is of unknown origin) + piscis "fish" (from PIE root *pisk- "a fish"). For specifics of usage in English, see OED.
late 14c., "gate, gateway," especially "the entire architectural treatment of the entrance and its surroundings of a cathedral or other grand building," from Old French portal "gate" (Modern French portail) and directly from Medieval Latin portale "city gate, porch," from neuter of portalis (adj.) "of a gate," from Latin porta "gate," from PIE *prta-, suffixed form of PIE root *per- (2) "to lead, pass over." The medical sense of "place where a drug, etc., enters or leaves the system" is by 1910.
Old English grindan "to rub together, crush into powder, grate, scrape," forgrindan "destroy by crushing" (class III strong verb; past tense grand, past participle grunden), from Proto-Germanic *grindanan (source also of Dutch grenden), related to ground (v.), from PIE *ghrendh- "to grind" (source also of Latin frendere "to gnash the teeth," Greek khondros "corn, grain," Lithuanian grendu, gręsti "to scrape, scratch"). Meaning "to make smooth or sharp by friction" is from c. 1300. Most other Germanic languages use a verb cognate with Latin molere (compare Dutch malen, Old Norse mala, German mahlen).
It forms all or part of: abduce; abducent; abduct; abduction; adduce; aqueduct; circumduction; conduce; conducive; conduct; conductor; conduit; deduce; deduction; dock (n.1) "ship's berth;" doge; douche; ducal; ducat; Duce; duchess; duchy; duct; ductile; duke (n.); educate; education; induce; induction; introduce; introduction; misconduct; produce; production; reduce; reduction; seduce; seduction; subduce; subduction; taut; team (n.); teem (v.1) "abound, swarm, be prolific;" tie (n.); tow (v.); traduce; transducer; tug; zugzwang.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Latin dux (genitive ducis) "leader, commander," in Late Latin "governor of a province," ducere "to lead;" Old English togian "to pull, drag," teonteon "to pull, drag;" German Zaum "bridle," ziehen "to draw, pull, drag;" Middle Welsh dygaf "I draw."
c. 1300, haut, "great, high;" mid-15c., "high in one's own estimation, haughty," from Old French haut (11c.) "main, principal; proud, noble, dignified; eminent; loud; grand," literally "high," from Latin altus "high," literally "grown tall," from PIE root *al- (2) "to grow, nourish;" with initial h- in French by influence of Frankish hoh "high." Spelling in English altered to -gh- 16c. by influence of caught, naught, etc., or of high, or perhaps by the belief that it was a Germanic word. Related: Haughtily.
1620s, "marked by grandeur," probably a shortening of earlier splendidious (early 15c.), from Latin splendidus "bright, shining, glittering; sumptuous, gorgeous, grand; illustrious, distinguished, noble; showy, fine, specious," from splendere "be bright, shine, gleam, glisten," from PIE *splnd- "to be manifest" (source also of Lithuanian splendžiu "I shine," Middle Irish lainn "bright"). An earlier form was splendent (late 15c.). From 1640s as "brilliant, dazzling;" 1640s as "conspicuous, illustrious; very fine, excellent." Ironic use (as in splendid isolation, 1843) is attested from 17c.
early 15c., "to take away, separate, or remove in estimating or counting," from Latin deductus, past participle of deducere "lead down, bring away;" see deduce, with which it formerly was interchangeable. Deduct refers to taking away portions or amounts; subtract to taking away numbers. Related: Deducted; deducting.
Deduct is to lead away, set aside, in a general or distributive sense; subtract, to draw off, remove, in a literal or collective sense. In settling a mercantile account, certain items, as charges, losses, etc. are deducted by being added together and their total subtracted from the grand total of the transaction. [Century Dictionary]
"a winning of all tricks in a card game," 1660s, earlier the name of a card game (also called ruff), 1620s, used especially in whist, of obscure origin. Grand slam in bridge is recorded by 1892; earlier in related card games by 1800; figurative sense of "complete success" is attested by 1920; the baseball sense of "home run with the bases loaded" is by 1935, probably a natural extension from the card game sense, with suggestion of slam (n.1). It also was the name of a brand of golf clubs in the 1920s and '30s.