grain - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Mixed grain—the harvested seeds

A close-up of wood grain—texture of material

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.

grain (countable and uncountable, plural grains)

  1. (uncountable) The harvested seeds of various grass food crops eg: wheat, corn, barley.
    We stored a thousand tons of grain for the winter.
  2. (uncountable) Similar seeds from any food crop, e.g., buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa.
  3. (countable) A single seed of grass food crops.
    a grain of wheat
    grains of oat
  4. (countable, uncountable) The crops from which grain is harvested.
    The fields were planted with grain.
  5. (uncountable) 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. (countable) A single particle of a substance.
    a grain of sand
    a grain of salt
  7. (countable) Any of various small units of mass originally notionally based on grain's weight, variously standardized at different places and times, including
    1. The English grain of 1⁄5760 troy pound or 1⁄7000 pound avoirdupois, now exactly 64.79891 mg.
      Synonym: troy grain
    2. The metric, carat, or pearl grain of 1⁄4 carat used for measuring precious stones and pearls, now exactly 50 mg.
    3. (historical) 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.
  8. (countable, chiefly historical) Any of various small units of length originally notionally based on a grain's width, variously standardized at different places and times.
  9. (countable, historical) The carat grain of 1⁄4 carat as a measure of gold purity, creating a 96-point scale between 0% and 100% purity.
  10. (materials) A region within a material having a single crystal structure or direction.
  11. (astronautics) The solid piece of fuel in an individual solid-fuel rocket engine.
  12. 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.
  1. The hair side of a piece of leather, or the marking on that side.
  1. (in the plural) The remains of grain, etc., after brewing or distillation; hence, any residuum.
    Synonym: draff
  2. (botany) A rounded prominence on the back of a sepal, as in the common dock.
  3. Temper; natural disposition; inclination.
  4. (photography, videography) 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.

seeds from any food crop

single seed of grain

crops from which grain is harvested

linear texture of material or surface

single particle of a substance

unit of length notionally based on a grain's width

1⁄4 carat as measure of gold purity

materials: region within a material having a single crystal structure or direction

rocketry: solid piece of fuel

reddish dye made from the coccus insect

hair side of a piece of leather

remains of grain, etc., after brewing or distillation

botany: rounded prominence on the back of a sepal

temper; natural disposition; inclination

visual texture in processed photographic film

Translations to be checked

grain (third-person singular simple present grains, present participle graining, simple past and past participle grained)

  1. (transitive) To feed grain to.
    • 1852, Herman Melville, Pierre; or The Ambiguities:
      He said that no man loved his horses, unless his own hands grained them. Every Christmas he gave them brimming measures.
  2. (transitive) To make granular; to form into grains.
  3. (intransitive) 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. (tanning) To remove the hair or fat from a skin.
  6. (tanning) To soften leather.
  7. To yield fruit.

to assume a granular form

to imitate the grain of wood

tanning: to remove the hair or fat from a skin

tanning: to soften leather

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”).

grain (plural grains)

  1. A branch of a tree; a stalk or stem of a plant; an offshoot.
  2. A tine, prong, or fork.
    1. One of the branches of a valley or river.
    2. An iron fish spear or harpoon, with a number of points half-barbed inwardly.
      • 4 May 1770, Stephen Forwood (gunner on H.M. Bark Endeavour), journal (quoted by Parkin (page 195)
        Served 5 lb of fish per man which was caught by striking with grains
    3. A blade of a sword, knife, etc.
    4. An arm of a cross.
  3. (founding) A thin piece of metal, used in a mould to steady a core.
  4. (dialectal) A branch or arm of a stream, inlet, or sea.
  5. (dialectal) A fork in a river valley or ravine.
  6. (dialectal) The branch of a family; clan.
  7. (dialectal, anatomy) The groin; crotch.
  8. (dialectal, anatomy) The fangs of a tooth.

Inherited from Middle French, from Old French grain, grein, from Latin grānum, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm.

grain m (plural grains)

  1. grain
  2. (figurative) a small amount, a bit

Perhaps from etymology 1, referring to hailstones. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

grain m (plural grains)

  1. (nautical) squall, thunderstorm

grain

  1. alternative form of greynen

From Latin grānum.

grain oblique singular, m (oblique plural grainz, nominative singular grainz, nominative plural **grain)

  1. grain (edible part of a cereal plant)
    • c. 1120, Philippe de Taon, Bestiaire, line 421:
      E quant grain ad truved de tuz maneres de bled
      When it [the ant] found grain of all manners of wheat

From Middle English grayn, greyn, grein, from Old Norse grein (“branch, twig”), from Proto-Germanic *grainiz (“branch”).

grain (plural grains)

  1. (of a tree) A branch or bough.
  2. (of a plant) A stalk.
  3. (of a fork or trident) A prong.
  4. An offshoot, branch, or member of anything
  5. (of a cross) An arm.
  6. (of a family or surname) A branch.
  7. A branch of a stream; the arm of a loch.