grain
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɡɹeɪn/
rhymes: -eɪn
Forms: form: grains
Etymology: From Middle English greyn, grayn, grein, from Old French grain, grein, from Latin grānum (“seed”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm (“grain”). Doublet of corn, gram, granum, and grao.
Senses: examples: text: We stored a thousand tons of grain for the winter.
glosses: The harvested seeds of various grass food crops eg: wheat, corn, barley.
glosses: Similar seeds from any food crop, e.g., buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa.
examples: text: a grain of wheat
text: grains of oat
glosses: A single seed of grass food crops.
examples: text: The fields were planted with grain.
text: A grain, which in England is generally given to horſes, but which in Scotland ſupports the people.
ref: 1755 April 15, Samuel Johnson, “Oats”, in A Dictionary of the English Language: […], volume II (L–Z), London: […] J[ohn] and P[aul] Knapton; […], →OCLC, column 1:
glosses: The crops from which grain is harvested.
examples: text: Cut along the grain of the wood.
text: He doesn't like to shave against the grain.
glosses: A linear texture of a material or surface.
examples: text: a grain of sand
text: a grain of salt
glosses: A single particle of a substance.
glosses: Any of various small units of mass originally notionally based on grain's weight, variously standardized at different places and times, including
The English grain of ¹⁄₅₇₆₀ troy pound or ¹⁄₇₀₀₀ pound avoirdupois, now exactly 64.79891 mg.
synonyms: troy grain
glosses: Any of various small units of mass originally notionally based on grain's weight, variously standardized at different places and times, including
The metric, carat, or pearl grain of ¹⁄₄ carat used for measuring precious stones and pearls, now exactly 50 mg.
glosses: Any of various small units of mass originally notionally based on grain's weight, variously standardized at different places and times, including
The French grain of ¹⁄₉₂₁₆ livre, equivalent to 53.11 mg at metricization and equal to exactly 54.25 mg from 1812–1839 as part of the mesures usuelles.
glosses: Any of various small units of length originally notionally based on a grain's width, variously standardized at different places and times.
glosses: The carat grain of ¹⁄₄ carat as a measure of gold purity, creating a 96-point scale between 0% and 100% purity.
qualifier: materials
glosses: A region within a material having a single crystal structure or direction.
topics: aerospace
astronautics
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: The solid piece of fuel in an individual solid-fuel rocket engine.
examples: text: all in a robe of darkest grain
ref: 1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, “Penseroso”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], →OCLC:
text: […] doing as the dyers do, who, having first dipped their silks in colours of less value, then give them the last tincture of crimson in grain.
ref: a. 1825, Quoted by Coleridge, preface to Aids to Reflection
glosses: 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.
examples: text: The grain of the leather is also sometimes damaged by the filling , by the taking off the hair , and by the river work.
ref: 1773, Royal Dublin Society, The Art of Tanning and of Currying Leather:
glosses: The hair side of a piece of leather, or the marking on that side.
synonyms: draff
glosses: The remains of grain, etc., after brewing or distillation; hence, any residuum.
topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
glosses: A rounded prominence on the back of a sepal, as in the common dock.
examples: text: brothers […] not united in grain
ref: a. 1628 (date written), John Hayward, The Life, and Raigne of King Edward the Sixt, London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press, and J. Lichfield at Oxford?] for Iohn Partridge, […], published 1630, →OCLC:
glosses: Temper; natural disposition; inclination.
topics: arts
broadcasting
film
hobbies
lifestyle
media
photography
television
videography
glosses: Visual texture in processed photographic film due to the presence of small particles of a metallic silver, or dye clouds, developed from silver halide that have received enough photons.
Synonyms: word: grain
Hypernyms: word: food
Hyponyms: word: wheat
word: rye
word: rice
word: maize
word: barley
word: millet
word: oat
word: sorghum
Derived terms: against the grain
ancient grain
argyrophilic grain disease
end grain
feed grain
feedgrain
felt grain
foodgrain
go against the grain
grainage
grain beetle
grain boundary
grain corn
grain elevator
grain engulfment
grain entrapment
grainfall
grainfield
grainflow
grainish
grain itch
grainland
grainless
grainlike
grainline
grain moon
grain of paradise
grain of salt
grain of truth
grain physa
grain popping
grain refiner
grain size
grains of paradise
grainstone
grain weevil
grain whiskey
grain whisky
grainy
grain yard
grainygrip grain
grip grain
guinea grains
intergrain
intragrain
kefir grain
micrograin
multigrain
nanograin
nongrain
overgrain
pollen grain
pseudograin
puffed grain
seed grain
silver grain
silver-grain
snow grains
soft-grain
subgrain
supergrain
there's a grain of truth in every joke
troy grain
whole grain
whole-grain
wholegrain
winnow grain from chaff
with a grain of salt
woodgrain
Related terms: word: coarse-grained
word: fine-grained
word: garnet
word: grain alcohol
word: grain car
word: grain neutral spirit
word: grains of paradise
word: grain spirit
word: granary
word: granular
word: granularity
word: granulate
word: granulation
word: grenade
word: grosgrain
word: guinea grains
word: neutral grain spirit
word: cereal
word: scythe
word: combine
word: field
word: mill