Groak

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. Dialect verb meaning to stare hungrily at someone eating, hoping they will offer you a share of the food
2. To silently watch another person eat in the hope that they will give you some of their meal
3. Describing the act of gazing longingly at somebody's food while waiting, without asking, to be given a portion

Etymology: "Groak" is a verb meaning to watch someone eat while waiting for them to offer you some of their food, and it entered English from Scots, where it has been used for centuries. The word is known in Scotland as "groak" and in Ulster as "growk," and the earliest English record of it is the spelling "grouk" in 1808, which marks its arrival in written English. The origin of the word itself is unknown. Scottish usage, where the word is most firmly rooted, gives no clear ancestor, so etymologists can trace its movement into English but not its ultimate source. What is documented is the sense: a watcher who hopes for a share, staring silently at another person's meal.