grain Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a relatively small granular particle of a substance
    • a grain of sand
    • a grain of sugar
  2. noun foodstuff prepared from the starchy grains of cereal grasses
    food grain; cereal.
  3. noun the side of leather from which the hair has been removed
  4. noun a weight unit used for pearls or diamonds: 50 mg or 1/4 carat
    metric grain.
  5. noun 1/60 dram; equals an avoirdupois grain or 64.799 milligrams
  6. noun 1/7000 pound; equals a troy grain or 64.799 milligrams
  7. noun dry seed-like fruit produced by the cereal grasses: e.g. wheat, barley, Indian corn
    caryopsis.
  8. noun a cereal grass
    • wheat is a grain that is grown in Kansas
  9. noun the smallest possible unit of anything
    • there was a grain of truth in what he said
    • he does not have a grain of sense
  10. noun the direction, texture, or pattern of fibers found in wood or leather or stone or in a woven fabric
    • saw the board across the grain
  11. noun the physical composition of something (especially with respect to the size and shape of the small constituents of a substance)
    texture.
    • breadfruit has the same texture as bread
    • sand of a fine grain
    • fish with a delicate flavor and texture
    • a stone of coarse grain
  12. verb thoroughly work in
    ingrain.
    • His hands were grained with dirt
  13. verb paint (a surface) to make it look like stone or wood
  14. verb form into grains
    granulate.
  15. verb become granular
    granulate.

WordNet

Grain verb & noun
Definitions
  1. See Groan. Obs.
Grain noun
Etymology
F. grain, L. granum, grain, seed, small kernel, small particle. See Corn, and cf. Garner, n., Garnet, Gram the chick-pea, Granule, Kernel.
Definitions
  1. A single small hard seed; a kernel, especially of those plants, like wheat, whose seeds are used for food.
  2. The fruit of certain grasses which furnish the chief food of man, as corn, wheat, rye, oats, etc., or the plants themselves; -- used collectively.
    Storehouses crammed with grain. Shak.
  3. Any small, hard particle, as of sand, sugar, salt, etc.; hence, any minute portion or particle; as, a grain of gunpowder, of pollen, of starch, of sense, of wit, etc.
    I . . . with a grain of manhood well resolved. Milton.
  4. The unit of the English system of weights; -- so called because considered equal to the average of grains taken from the middle of the ears of wheat. 7,000 grains constitute the pound avoirdupois, and 5,760 grains the pound troy. A grain is equal to .0648 gram. See Gram.
  5. 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. Milton.
    Doing as the dyers do, who, having first dipped their silks in colors of less value, then give' them the last tincture of crimson in grain. Quoted by Coleridge, preface to Aids to Reflection.
  6. The composite particles of any substance; that arrangement of the particles of any body which determines its comparative roughness or hardness; texture; as, marble, sugar, sandstone, etc., of fine grain.
    Hard box, and linden of a softer grain. Dryden.
  7. The direction, arrangement, or appearance of the fibers in wood, or of the strata in stone, slate, etc.
    Knots, by the conflux of meeting sap, Infect the sound pine and divert his grain Tortive and errant from his course of growth. Shak.
  8. The fiber which forms the substance of wood or of any fibrous material.
  9. The hair side of a piece of leather, or the marking on that side. Knight.
  10. pl. The remains of grain, etc., after brewing or distillation; hence, any residuum. Also called draff.
  11. (Bot.) A rounded prominence on the back of a sepal, as in the common dock. See Grained, a., 4.
  12. Temper; natural disposition; inclination. Obs.
    Brothers . . . not united in grain. Hayward.
  13. A sort of spice, the grain of paradise. Obs.
    He cheweth grain and licorice, To smellen sweet. Chaucer.
Grain transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Grained ; present participle & verbal noun Graining
Definitions
  1. To paint in imitation of the grain of wood, marble, etc.
  2. To form (powder, sugar, etc.) into grains.
  3. To take the hair off (skins); to soften and raise the grain of (leather, etc.).
Grain intransitive verb
Etymology
F. grainer, grener. See Grain, n.
Definitions
  1. To yield fruit. Obs. Gower.
  2. To form grains, or to assume a granular ferm, as the result of crystallization; to granulate.
Grain noun
Etymology
See Groin a part of the body.
Definitions
  1. A branch of a tree; a stalk or stem of a plant. Obs. G. Douglas.
  2. A tine, prong, or fork. Specifically: (a) One the branches of a valley or of a river. (b) pl. An iron first speak or harpoon, having four or more barbed points.
  3. A blade of a sword, knife, etc.
  4. (Founding) A thin piece of metal, used in a mold to steady a core.

Webster 1913