Groaning Malt.

A strong ale brewed for the gossips who attend at the birth of a child, and for those who come to offer to a husband congratulations at the auspicious event. A cheese, called the Ken-no, or “groaning cheese,” was also made for the occasion. (See Ken-no.)

“Meg Merrilies descended to the kitchen to secure her share of the groaning malt.”—Sir W. Scott: Guy Mannering, chap. iii.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.