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grain Definition

grain (grān)

noun

  1. a small, hard seed or seedlike fruit, esp. that of any cereal plant, as wheat, rice, corn, rye, etc.
  2. : also called corn in Great Britain
    1. cereal seeds in general
    2. the seeds of a specific cereal
    3. any plant or plants producing cereal seeds
    1. a tiny, solid particle, as of salt or sand
    2. a crystal or crystals collectively; also crystallization, esp. of sugar
  4. a tiny bit; slightest amount a grain of sense

  5. Etymology: orig. from the weight of a grain of wheat

    the smallest unit in the system of weights used in the U.S., Great Britain, and Canada, equal to .0648 gram: one pound avoirdupois equals 7,000 grains; one pound troy or apothecaries' weight equals 5,760 grains: abbrev. gr
    1. the arrangement or direction of fibers, layers, or particles of wood, leather, stone, paper, etc.
    2. the markings or texture due to a particular arrangement
    3. paint or other surface finish imitating such markings or texture
    4. a granular surface appearance
    1. that side of a piece of leather from which the hair has been removed
    2. the markings on that side
    1. disposition; nature
    2. essential quality
  9. Obsolete
    1. kermes or cochineal
    2. a red dye made from either
    3. any fast dye
    4. Archaic color or shade

Etymology: ME greyne < OFr grein, a seed, grain (< L granum, a seed, kernel) & grainne, seed or grain collectively (< LL grana, fem., orig. pl. of L granum) < IE base *ĝer-, to become ripe > corn, kernel

transitive verb

  1. to form into grains; granulate
  2. to paint or otherwise finish (a surface) in imitation of the grain of wood, marble, etc.
    1. to remove the hair from (hides)
    2. to put a finish on the grain surface of (leather)

intransitive verb

to form grains

grain Idioms

against the grain

or against one's grain

contrary to one's feelings, nature, wishes, etc.; irritating or displeasing

grain Synonyms

grain

n.

  1. Seeds of domesticated grasses

    cereal, cereals, corn (British), small grain, seed, maize.

    Varieties of grain include: rice, wheat, oats, barley, corn, rye, millet.

  2. A particle

    speck, pellet, fragment; see bit 1.

  3. Character imparted by fiber

    texture, warp and woof, striation, tendency, fabric, staple, tissue, weft, current, direction, tooth, nap.

against the grain*

disturbing, irritating, bothersome, contrary; see offensive 2.

grain Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • thresh: Another character, Tinny Day, came with his huge steam-engines to thresh the grain and stack the straw.
  • grind: An optional grain mill attachment is available for grinding grains into flour.
  • char: A third site provides evidence for settlement alongside an adjacent Roman road, and was notable for producing rich deposits of charred grain.

Adjective modifier

  • burnt: Environmental assessment of these deposits identified only occasional burnt grain and possible hammerscale, although this could be natural magnetic material.
  • coarse: Control allocation of coarse grains might well tend in that direction.

Modifies a noun

  • silo: The stone is located in the woodland to the north near the grain silo.
  • mustard: Good with whole green beans, grain mustard and mashed potatoes.
  • boundary: Use of Raman to evaluate grain boundary species in small concentrations.
  • harvest: Whilst grain harvests are falling, the demand for grain is rising.
  • whiskey: NOT the same as a blended whiskey which will be a blend of malt and grain whiskies.

Noun used with modifier

  • pollen: Pollen grains from a variety of common plants can cause hay fever.
  • cereal: As plants evolved so did animal life on earth with cereal grains being the most advanced plant form creating humans.
  • barley: These sacks of wheat or barley grains are cleaned to remove any dust.
  • wheat: The ears of wheat grain issuing from the tail of the bull shows the time is the spring equinox.
  • quartz: Above: thin section of sutured quartz grain margin - typical Gold-belt quartz - from Gwynfynydd mine.
  • dust: The dust grains may provide the shelter for molecules to form.

Preposition: of

  • sand: A grain of sand is smaller than a millimeter.
  • rice: Their droppings have a similar shape to grains of rice.
  • wheat: Grains of wheat or barley, and fresh coconut.

Preposition: from

  • chaff: One must sit down and separate the grain from the chaff.
grain Quotes

O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed Hisgrace on thee. And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea.

—Bates, Katharine Lee

There'll always be an England While there's a country lane, Wherever there's a cottage small Beside a field of grain.

—Parker, Ross and Charles, Hugh

The Divine is everywhere, even in a grain of sand, here I have represented it in bull-rushes.

—Friedrich, Caspar David

When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high-piled books, in charactery, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain.

—Keats,John

   Bold knaves thrive without one grain of sense, But good men starve for want of impudence.

—Dryden,John

No little lily-handed baronet he, A great broad-shouldered genial Englishman, A lord of fat prize-oxen and of sheep, A raiser of huge melons and of pine, A patron of some thirty charities, A pamphleteer on guano and on grain.

—Tennyson

She taught me what her uncle once taught her: How easily the biggest coal block split If you got the grain and hammer angled right. The sound of that relaxed alluring blow, Its co-opted and obliterated echo, Taught me to hit, taught me to loosen, Taught me between the hammer and the block To face the music. Teach me now to listen, To strike it rich behind the linear black.

—Heaney, SeamusJustin

And common is the commonplace, And vacant chaff well meant for grain.

—Tennyson