In order to experience as much of a dichotomy as possible, I've begun reading Joyce's Dubliners while still working on The Fountainhead.

In the second tale, "An Encounter", I encountered the passage: "He began to talk of the weather, saying that it would be a very hot summer and adding that the seasons had changed gready since he was a boy--a long time ago."

I think I can pretty well understand what it means from context, but I haven't found it in "the dictionary" or by googling. I suspect that it's Irish slang, being Joyce and all. Does anyone know anything about it?