From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishgrudgegrudge1 /ɡrʌdʒ/ noun [countable] 1 DON'T LIKEFORGIVEa feeling of dislike for someone because you cannot forget that they harmed you in the pastgrudge against Is there anyone who might have had a grudge against her? Mr Gillis was not normally a man to bear grudges. I’m not harbouring some secret grudge against you. It could be the work of someone with a grudge against the company. You let nasty little personal grudges creep in.2 → grudge fight/matchCOLLOCATIONSverbshave/hold a grudgeThe police asked if anyone might have had a grudge against the victim.bear/carry a grudgeWallace said the rumors had been started by someone who bore a grudge against him.harbour a grudge (=to have a grudge for a long time)He was the sort of person to harbour a grudge for years.nurse a grudge (=to have a grudge and keep finding reasons for it)She was still nursing a grudge against her grandfather.adjectivesa personal grudgeIt is known that Ibarra had a personal grudge against Arellanos.an old/ancient/long-standing grudgeHe said they should celebrate their achievements, not nurse old grudges.phrasesbear/hold etc no grudgeHe insisted that he held no grudge against Taylor.
Examples from the Corpus
grudge• As if he had a grudge against the whole world.• As late as 1991 Nixon continued to harbour a grudge against Eisenhower over his role in the 1960 campaign.• Now some coward with a grudge has bombed a crowd of Olympics fans enjoying music in a public park.• Political loony, surprised thief, old lag with a grudge ... it's facts I want, not surmise.• It would not do to have Miss Blagden imagine she bore any grudge.• A lone gunman with an apparent grudge can do great harm.• Knives were drawn and it looked as if many ancient, long-held grudges were to be settled.• Stories about Davis' temper, grudges and food fights abound.personal grudges• Such a pulsating close battle required firmer handling than administered by Brian Wallis, for there were quite a few personal grudges raging.• You let nasty little personal grudges creep in, and you taint the experience.grudgegrudge2 verb [transitive] WILLINGto do or give something very unwillinglygrudge doing something I really grudge paying for poor service.grudge somebody something I don’t grudge him his success. —grudging adjective [usually before noun] a grudging apology —grudgingly adverb He grudgingly admitted he’d been wrong.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
grudge• Oliver was grudging about accepting Wickham's innocence.• You don't grudge the outlay when you get a letter like that.• I grudged the time I had to spend doing housework instead of playing.• Mair sometimes grudged the work and time it involved but he knew its importance.• Ada believed that nobody could grudge you the right to complain.Origin grudge2 (1300-1400) Old French grouchier; → GROUCH1 