grain

[ greyn ]

noun

1. a small, hard seed, especially the seed of a food plant such as wheat, corn, rye, oats, rice, or millet.
2. the gathered seed of food plants, especially of cereal plants.
3. such plants collectively.
4. any small, hard particle, as of sand, gold, pepper, or gunpowder.
5. the smallest unit of weight in most systems, originally determined by the weight of a plump grain of wheat. In the U.S. and British systems, as in avoirdupois, troy, and apothecaries' weights, the grain is identical. In an avoirdupois ounce there are 437.5 grains; in the troy and apothecaries' ounces there are 480 grains (one grain equals 0.0648 gram).
6. the smallest possible amount of anything:

   a grain of truth.

   Synonyms: tittle, whit, iota, jot, trace, speck, bit

7. the arrangement or direction of fibers in wood, or the pattern resulting from this.
8. the direction in which the fibers of a piece of dressed wood, as a board, rise to the surface:

   You should work with or across the grain, but never against.

9. the side of leather from which the hair has been removed.
10. a stamped pattern that imitates the natural grain of leather: used either on leather to simulate a different type of natural leather, or on coated cloth.
11. Textiles.
    1. the fibers or yarn in a piece of fabric as differentiated from the fabric itself.
    2. the direction of threads in a woven fabric in relation to the selvage.
12. the lamination or cleavage of stone, coal, etc.
13. Metallurgy. any of the individual crystalline particles forming a metal.
14. Jewelry. a unit of weight equal to 50 milligrams or ¼ carat, used for pearls and sometimes for diamonds.
15. the size of constituent particles of any substance; texture:

    sugar of fine grain.

16. a granular texture or appearance:

    a stone of coarse grain.

17. a state of crystallization:

    boiled to the grain.

18. temper or natural character:

    two brothers of similar grain.

19. Rocketry. a unit of solid propellant.
20. Obsolete. color or hue.

verb (used with object)

1. to form into grains; granulate.
2. to give a granular appearance to.
3. to paint in imitation of the grain of wood, stone, etc.:

   metal doors grained to resemble oak.

4. to feed grain to (an animal).
5. Tanning.
   1. to remove the hair from (skins).
   2. to soften and raise the grain of (leather).

grain

/ ɡreɪn /

noun

1. the small hard seedlike fruit of a grass, esp a cereal plant
2. a mass of such fruits, esp when gathered for food
3. the plants, collectively, from which such fruits are harvested
4. a small hard particle

   a grain of sand

5. 1. the general direction or arrangement of the fibrous elements in paper or wood

      to saw across the grain

   2. the pattern or texture of wood resulting from such an arrangement

      the attractive grain of the table

6. the relative size of the particles of a substance

   sugar of fine grain

7. 1. the granular texture of a rock, mineral, etc
   2. the appearance of a rock, mineral, etc, determined by the size and arrangement of its constituents
8. 1. the outer (hair-side) layer of a hide or skin from which the hair or wool has been removed
   2. the pattern on the outer surface of such a hide or skin
9. a surface artificially imitating the grain of wood, leather, stone, etc; graining
10. the smallest unit of weight in the avoirdupois, Troy, and apothecaries' systems, based on the average weight of a grain of wheat: in the avoirdupois system it equals 1 7000 of a pound, and in the Troy and apothecaries' systems it equals 1 5760 of a pound. 1 grain is equal to 0.0648 gram gr
11. Also calledmetric grain a metric unit of weight used for pearls or diamonds, equal to 50 milligrams or one quarter of a carat
12. the threads or direction of threads in a woven fabric
13. photog any of a large number of particles in a photographic emulsion, the size of which limit the extent to which an image can be enlarged without serious loss of definition
14. television a granular effect in a television picture caused by electrical noise
15. cleavage lines in crystalline material, parallel to growth planes
16. chem any of a large number of small crystals forming a polycrystalline solid, each having a regular array of atoms that differs in orientation from that of the surrounding crystallites
17. a state of crystallization

    to boil syrup to the grain

18. a very small amount

    a grain of truth

19. natural disposition, inclination, or character (esp in the phrase go against the grain )
20. astronautics a homogenous mass of solid propellant in a form designed to give the required combustion characteristics for a particular rocket
21. not in technical usage kermes or a red dye made from this insect
22. dyeing an obsolete word for colour
23. with a grain of salt or with a pinch of salt
    without wholly believing: sceptically

verb

1. also intr to form grains or cause to form into grains; granulate; crystallize
2. to give a granular or roughened appearance or texture to
3. to paint, stain, etc, in imitation of the grain of wood or leather
4. 1. to remove the hair or wool from (a hide or skin) before tanning
   2. to raise the grain pattern on (leather)

grain

/ grān /

1. See caryopsis
2. A small particle of something, such as salt, pollen, or sand.
3. A unit of weight in the US Customary System, equal to 2 1000 of an ounce (0.07 gram).
4. See Table at measurement

Derived Forms

• ˈgrainer, noun
• ˈgrainless, adjective

Other Words From

• grainer noun
• grainless adjective
• multi·grain noun adjective
• non·grain noun
• super·grain noun
• under·graining noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of grain¹

1250–1300; Middle English grain, grein < Old French grain < Latin grānum seed, grain; corn ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of grain¹

C13: from Old French, from Latin grānum

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. against the / one's grain, in opposition to one's temper, inclination, or character:

   Haggling always went against her grain.

2. with a grain of salt. salt ¹( def 24 ).

More idioms and phrases containing grain

see against the grain ; with a grain of salt .

Example Sentences

"When the water goes down, I’ll grow grain, even if it’s years," she adds.

From BBC

In 2022, the consortium began introducing tracking chips, no larger than a grain of rice, as part of the label embedded in the hard rind of the cheese.

From BBC

That frees you up to dip into the human soup of the boardwalk for people-watching at its finest: pigeon-training, python-handling carnies, vendors who can write your name on a grain of rice or balance your chakras.

From Los Angeles Times

Where medical experts find mountains of studies and years of data to be conclusive, Kennedy goes zooming against the grain, for little apparent reason.

From Slate

As ever, the “record usage of this platform” boasts should be taken with a grain of salt, but X was undoubtedly a well-trafficked feed of information, both reliable and seriously unreliable, this election cycle.

From Slate

Related Words

• cereal
• corn