Word: grain Part of Speech: noun 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. Pronunciation: /ɡɹeɪn/ 1. The harvested seeds of various grass food crops eg: wheat, corn, barley. Labels: uncountable Example: We stored a thousand tons of grain for the winter. 2. Similar seeds from any food crop, e.g., buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa. Labels: uncountable 3. A single seed of grass food crops. Labels: countable Example: a grain of wheat Example: grains of oat 4. The crops from which grain is harvested. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: The fields were planted with grain. Example: A grain, which in England is generally given to horſes, but which in Scotland ſupports the people. 5. A linear texture of a material or surface. Labels: uncountable Example: Cut along the grain of the wood. Example: He doesn't like to shave against the grain. 6. A single particle of a substance. Labels: countable Example: a grain of sand Example: a grain of salt 7. Any of various small units of mass originally notionally based on grain's weight, variously standardized at different places and times, including Labels: countable, uncountable 8. Any of various small units of mass originally notionally based on grain's weight, variously standardized at different places and times, including Labels: countable, uncountable 9. Any of various small units of mass originally notionally based on grain's weight, variously standardized at different places and times, including Labels: countable, historical, uncountable 10. Any of various small units of length originally notionally based on a grain's width, variously standardized at different places and times. Labels: countable, historical 11. The carat grain of ¹⁄₄ carat as a measure of gold purity, creating a 96-point scale between 0% and 100% purity. Labels: countable, historical 12. A region within a material having a single crystal structure or direction. Labels: countable, uncountable 13. The solid piece of fuel in an individual solid-fuel rocket engine. Labels: countable, uncountable 14. 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. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: all in a robe of darkest grain Example: […] 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. 15. The hair side of a piece of leather, or the marking on that side. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: The grain of the leather is also sometimes damaged by the filling , by the taking off the hair , and by the river work. 16. The remains of grain, etc., after brewing or distillation; hence, any residuum. Labels: countable, in-plural, uncountable 17. A rounded prominence on the back of a sepal, as in the common dock. Labels: countable, uncountable 18. Temper; natural disposition; inclination. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: brothers […] not united in grain 19. 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. Labels: countable, uncountable 20. A tiny fragment of a digital audio recording, used in granular synthesis to create new sounds or textures. Labels: countable, uncountable