Link Centre Dictionary

grain

UK/ɡɹeɪn/ US/ˈɡreɪn/ fairly common
noun (7) verb (4)

noun

1.

a small hard particle

  • “a grain of sand”
2.

foodstuff prepared from the starchy grains of cereal grasses

Synonyms
3.

used for pearls or diamonds: 50 mg or 1/4 carat

Synonyms
4.

1/60 dram; equals an avoirdupois grain or 64.799 milligrams

5.

1/7000 pound; equals a troy grain or 64.799 milligrams

6.

dry seedlike fruit produced by the cereal grasses: e.g. wheat, barley, Indian corn

Synonyms
7.

the direction or texture of fibers found in wood or leather or stone or in a woven fabric

  • “saw the board across the grain”

verb

1.

thoroughly work in

  • “His hands were grained with dirt”
Synonyms
2.
3.

form into grains

Synonyms
4.

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • against the grain
  • ancient grain
  • argyrophilic grain disease
  • brewers' spent grains
  • distillers' grains
  • end grain
  • feed grain
  • felt grain
  • grain up

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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Parts

Part of

Causes

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.