grants

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of grant.

   The agency awarded several research grants this spring.

   Small businesses can apply for grants to cover startup costs.

   Note

   Most often it counts sums of money awarded for research or a cause, but an older legal use survives too: land grants are transfers of property by deed, especially from a government. In informal academic speech the word stretches further. Someone busy writing grants is drafting applications for funding, not handing it out.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of grant.

   The foundation grants scholarships to students from low-income families.

   Each license grants the holder permission to fish in these waters.

   Note

   The spelling is shared with the plural noun, so grants can name what a foundation gives or what it does. As a verb it usually takes two objects: it grants students scholarships, or grants scholarships to students. In argument it concedes instead. A critic who grants that a plan is bold admits one point before disputing the rest.

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