grain
Pluralgrains (some meanings)
Pluralgrains (some meanings)
Formsgrains, graining, grained
- 1Plants like wheat, rice, and corn, or their seeds that we eat.
Like the wheat and rice used to make bread and breakfast cereal.
Farmers stored the grain in tall silos through the winter.
The country exports millions of tons of grain each year.
UsageSay tons of grain, but a grain of rice.
- 2The lines and pattern you see and feel running through wood or other material.
Like the stripes you see running along a wooden plank.
He sanded the board along the grain of the wood.
Cutting against the grain left the edge rough and splintered.
UsageSay along the grain or with the grain, and against the grain for the opposite direction.
- 3One tiny piece of something, like a bit of sand or salt.
Like one tiny bit of sand among the millions on a beach.
Not a single grain of sand had been disturbed on the dune.
Tiny grains of salt clung to the rim of the glass.
UsageSay a grain of sand or a grain of salt.
- 4
- 5A very small unit of weight, equal to about 65 milligrams.
A tiny weight: about as heavy as a couple of grains of sand.
The jeweler weighed the gold dust to the nearest grain.
A standard tablet contains about five grains of the active drug.
Note
- 6The speckled, rough look in old or fast-film photographs.
Like the tiny dots that make up a fuzzy old photograph.
The black-and-white photo had heavy grain that gave it a vintage feel.
Shooting at a high ISO introduced noticeable grain into the night shots.
Note
- 7The outer surface of leather, on the side where the animal's hair once grew.
Like the natural pattern you can see on the outside of an orange peel.
The grain on this belt shows small marks from the animal's skin.
Good leather keeps a fine grain that feels smooth to the touch.
Note
- 8A small area inside a metal or rock where the crystal pattern points one way.
Like the small patches in a sugar cube, each one lined up its own way.
Under the microscope, each grain in the steel showed a different orientation.
Smaller grains generally make a metal stronger and harder to break.
Similarcrystallite, crystal
Note
Less common meanings
- 9To paint or mark a surface so it looks like wood or stone.
Like drawing fake wood lines on a plain board so it looks real.
The decorator grained the metal door to look like oak.
Skilled painters can grain plain plaster to resemble veined marble.
- 10Someone's natural mood or the way they tend to be.
Like how some people are just naturally calm and others naturally hot-tempered.
Generosity ran deep in the grain of her character.
Cruelty went against the very grain of his nature.
UsageUsually in go against the grain.
Similarnature, disposition, character, temperament, bent
Note
- 11To give grain to animals as food.
Like pouring feed into a trough for the cows to eat.
The farmer grains the cattle every morning before dawn.
They grain the horses heavily in the weeks before a race.
Similarfeed
- 12To turn, or make something turn, into small grains or crystals.
Like crushing a sugar lump back into loose little grains.
The refinery grains the raw sugar before packing it.
Workers grain the gunpowder to control how quickly it burns.
Similargranulate, crystallize
- 13A tiny unit of weight for gems and pearls, equal to a quarter of a carat, or 50 milligrams.
- 14What is left of the grain after brewing beer or making spirits.
- 15The block of solid fuel inside a rocket engine that burns to push the rocket.
- 16A small unit once used to measure how pure gold is, with ninety-six meaning fully pure gold.
- 17An old French unit of weight, a tiny part of a pound, worth about 53 milligrams.
- 18A tiny unit of length once used in different places, first based on the width of a single grain.
- 19A red dye made from crushed insects, and the deep red color it produces.
all in a robe of darkest grain
1646, John Milton, “Penseroso” - 20An old word for a branch of a river or valley.
- 21A branch of a tree, or the stalk or stem of a plant.
- 22A pointed part, like one of the points on a fork, or a place where something splits into points.
- 23The blade of a sword, knife, or similar cutting tool.
- 24Any one of the arms that reach out from a cross.
- 25An iron spear with several barbed points, used for catching fish.
Served 5 lb of fish per man which was caught by striking with grains
4 May 1770, Stephen Forwood (gunner on H.M. Bark Endeavour), journal (quoted by Parkin (page 195) - 26A small rounded bump on the back of a flower's outer leaf, as seen in dock plants.
- 27A thin piece of metal placed in a mold to hold the inner part steady.
- 28To clean the hair and fat off an animal skin before tanning.
- 29To make leather softer and easier to bend.
- 30To produce fruit, said of a plant.
- 31One part of a big family, or a whole group of relatives.
- 32The place where your legs join your body.
- 33The parts of a tooth that go into the jaw.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
From Latin granum, meaning "seed," which came into English through Old French.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Grain derives from Latin granum through Old French. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin granum means seed. en.wiktionary.org