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Grain

//ɡɹeɪn// name, noun, verb

Definitions

Proper Noun

1
A village in Isle of Grain parish, Isle of Grain, Medway borough, Kent, England (OS grid ref TQ8876).
2
A surname.

Noun

1
The harvested seeds of various grass food crops eg: wheat, corn, barley. uncountable
"We stored a thousand tons of grain for the winter."
2
A branch of a tree; a stalk or stem of a plant; an offshoot.
3
the physical composition of something (especially with respect to the size and shape of the small constituents of a substance) wordnet
4
Similar seeds from any food crop, e.g., buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa. uncountable
5
A tine, prong, or fork.; One of the branches of a valley or river.

Show 36 more definitions

6
the direction, texture, or pattern of fibers found in wood or leather or stone or in a woven fabric wordnet
7
A single seed of grass food crops. countable
"a grain of wheat"
8
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"
9
the smallest possible unit of anything wordnet
10
The crops from which grain is harvested. countable, uncountable
"The fields were planted with grain."
11
A tine, prong, or fork.; A blade of a sword, knife, etc.
12
foodstuff prepared from the starchy grains of cereal grasses wordnet
13
A linear texture of a material or surface. uncountable
"Cut along the grain of the wood."
14
A tine, prong, or fork.; An arm of a cross.
15
a relatively small granular particle of a substance wordnet
16
A single particle of a substance. countable
"a grain of sand"
17
A thin piece of metal, used in a mould to steady a core.
18
a cereal grass wordnet
19
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. countable, uncountable
20
A branch or arm of a stream, inlet, or sea. dialectal
21
dry seed-like fruit produced by the cereal grasses: e.g. wheat, barley, Indian corn wordnet
22
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. countable, uncountable
23
A fork in a river valley or ravine. dialectal
24
1/7000 pound; equals a troy grain or 64.799 milligrams wordnet
25
Any 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. countable, historical, uncountable
26
The branch of a family; clan. dialectal
27
1/60 dram; equals an avoirdupois grain or 64.799 milligrams wordnet
28
Any of various small units of length originally notionally based on a grain's width, variously standardized at different places and times. countable, historical
29
The groin; crotch. dialectal
30
a weight unit used for pearls or diamonds: 50 mg or 1/4 carat wordnet
31
The carat grain of ¹⁄₄ carat as a measure of gold purity, creating a 96-point scale between 0% and 100% purity. countable, historical
32
The fangs of a tooth. dialectal
33
the side of leather from which the hair has been removed wordnet
34
A region within a material having a single crystal structure or direction. countable, uncountable
35
The solid piece of fuel in an individual solid-fuel rocket engine. countable, uncountable
36
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. countable, uncountable
"all in a robe of darkest grain"
37
The hair side of a piece of leather, or the marking on that side. countable, uncountable
"The grain of the leather is also sometimes damaged by the filling , by the taking off the hair , and by the river work."
38
The remains of grain, etc., after brewing or distillation; hence, any residuum. countable, in-plural, uncountable
39
A rounded prominence on the back of a sepal, as in the common dock. countable, uncountable
40
Temper; natural disposition; inclination. countable, uncountable
"brothers […] not united in grain"
41
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. countable, uncountable

Verb

1
To feed grain to. transitive
"He said that no man loved his horses, unless his own hands grained them. Every Christmas he gave them brimming measures."
2
become granular wordnet
3
To make granular; to form into grains. transitive
4
form into grains wordnet
5
To form grains, or to assume a granular form, as the result of crystallization; to granulate. intransitive

Show 6 more definitions

6
paint (a surface) to make it look like stone or wood wordnet
7
To texture a surface in imitation of the grain of a substance such as wood.
8
thoroughly work in wordnet
9
To remove the hair or fat from a skin.
10
To soften leather.
11
To yield fruit.

Etymology

Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

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.

Etymology 3

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”).

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