grain

nounverbnouncommon in dialogue

//ɡɹeɪn//

The harvested seeds of various grass food crops, especially wheat, maize, rye, barley, and rice.

noun

1
The harvested seeds of various grass food crops, especially wheat, maize, rye, barley, and rice.
Near-synonym: corn (broad sense, maize and others)
We stored a thousand tons of grain for the winter.
2
Similar seeds from any food crop, e.g., buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa.
Near-synonym: corn (broad sense, maize and others)
3
A single seed of a food crop, especially a cereal grass crop.
a grain of wheat
grains of oat
4
The crops from which grain is harvested.
The fields were planted with grain.
A grain, which in England is generally given to horſes, but which in Scotland ſupports the people.
5
A linear texture of a material or surface.
Cut along the grain of the wood.
He doesn't like to shave against the grain.
6
A single particle of a substance.
a grain of sand
a grain of salt
7
Any of various small units of mass originally notionally based on grain's weight, variously standardized at different places and times, including The English grain of ¹⁄₅₇₆₀ troy pound or ¹⁄₇₀₀₀ pound avoirdupois, now exactly 64.79891 mg.
8
Any of various small units of mass originally notionally based on grain's weight, variously standardized at different places and times, including The metric, carat, or pearl grain of ¹⁄₄ carat used for measuring precious stones and pearls, now exactly 50 mg.
9
historicalAny of various small units of mass originally notionally based on grain's weight, variously standardized at different places and times, including The French grain of ¹⁄₉₂₁₆ livre, equivalent to 53.11 mg at metricization and equal to exactly 54.25 mg from 1812–1839 as part of the mesures usuelles.
10
historicalAny of various small units of length originally notionally based on a grain's width, variously standardized at different places and times.
11
historicalThe carat grain of ¹⁄₄ carat as a measure of gold purity, creating a 96-point scale between 0% and 100% purity.
12
A region within a material having a single crystal structure or direction.
13
The solid piece of fuel in an individual solid-fuel rocket engine.
14
A reddish dye made from the coccus insect, or kermes; hence, a red color of any tint or hue, as crimson, scarlet, etc.; sometimes used by the poets as equivalent to Tyrian purple.
all in a robe of darkest grain
[…] doing as the dyers do, who, having first dipped their silks in colours of less value, then give them the last tincture of crimson in grain.
15
The hair side of a piece of leather, or the marking on that side.
The grain of the leather is also sometimes damaged by the filling , by the taking off the hair , and by the river work.
16
The remains of grain, etc., after brewing or distillation; hence, any residuum.
17
A rounded prominence on the back of a sepal, as in the common dock.
18
Temper; natural disposition; inclination.
brothers […] not united in grain
19
Visual texture in processed photographic film due to the presence of small particles of a metallic silver, or dye clouds, developed from silver halide that have received enough photons.
20
A tiny fragment of a digital audio recording, used in granular synthesis to create new sounds or textures.

Etymology

From Middle English greyn, grayn, grein, from Old French grain, grein, from Latin grānum (“seed”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm (“grain”). Doublet of corn, gram, granum, and grao.

verb

1
To feed grain to.
He said that no man loved his horses, unless his own hands grained them. Every Christmas he gave them brimming measures.
2
To make granular; to form into grains.
3
To form grains, or to assume a granular form, as the result of crystallization; to granulate.
4
To texture a surface in imitation of the grain of a substance such as wood.
5
To remove the hair or fat from a skin.
6
To soften leather.
7
To yield fruit.

noun

1
A branch of a tree; a stalk or stem of a plant; an offshoot.
2
A tine, prong, or fork. One of the branches of a valley or river.
3
A tine, prong, or fork. An iron fish spear or harpoon, with a number of points half-barbed inwardly.
Served 5 lb of fish per man which was caught by striking with grains
4
A tine, prong, or fork. A blade of a sword, knife, etc.
5
A tine, prong, or fork. An arm of a cross.
6
A thin piece of metal, used in a mould to steady a core.
7
A branch or arm of a stream, inlet, or sea.
8
A fork in a river valley or ravine.
9
The branch of a family; clan.
10
The groin; crotch.
11
The fangs of a tooth.

Etymology

From Middle English grayn, from Old Norse grein (“bough, branch”), from Proto-Germanic *grainiz (“branch, twig, ramification”), of unknown origin. Related to English grove (“thicket”).

Forms

plural: grains
past tense: grained
past participle: grained
present participle: graining
third person singular: grains

graham · Flour made by grinding wheat berries including the bran.Graham · A Scottish surname from Old English.grail · The Holy Grail.

grain · The harvested seeds of various grass food crops, especially wheat, maize, rye, barley, and rice.

Grain · A village in Isle of Grain parish, Isle of Grain, Medway…grains · Pigeons' dung used in tanning. See grainer.gram · A unit of mass equal to one-thousandth of a kilogram. Symbol:…

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.