grain
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
2=ǵerh₂Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.
From Middle English greyn, grayn, grein, borrowed from Old French grain, grein, from Latin grānum (“seed”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm (“grain”). Compare English corn.
Noun
grain (countable and uncountable, plural grains)
- (uncountable) The harvested seeds of various grass food crops eg: wheat, corn, barley.
- We stored a thousand tons of grain for the winter.
- (uncountable) Similar seeds from any food crop, eg buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa.
- (countable) A single seed of grass food crops.
- a grain of wheat
- grains of oat
- (countable, uncountable) The crops from which grain is harvested.
- The fields were planted with grain.
- (uncountable) A linear texture of a material or surface.
- Cut along the grain of the wood.
- He doesn't like to shave against the grain.
- (countable) A single particle of a substance.
- a grain of sand
- a grain of salt
- (countable) A very small unit of weight, in England equal to 1/480 of an ounce troy, 0.0648 grams or, to be more exact, 64.79891 milligrams (0.002285714 avoirdupois ounce). A carat grain or pearl grain is 1/4 carat or 50 milligrams. The old French grain was 1/9216 livre or 53.11 milligrams, and in the mesures usuelles permitted from 1812 to 1839, with the livre redefined as 500 grams, it was 54.25 milligrams.
- (countable) A former unit of gold purity, also known as carat grain, equal to 1⁄4 "carat" (karat).
- (materials) A region within a material having a single crystal structure or direction.
- 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.
- (Can we date this quote by John Milton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- all in a robe of darkest grain
- (Can we date this quote?), Quoted by Coleridge, preface to Aids to Reflection
- […] 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.
- (Can we date this quote by John Milton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- The hair side of a piece of leather, or the marking on that side.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)
- (in the plural) The remains of grain, etc., after brewing or distillation; hence, any residuum. Also called draff.
- (botany) A rounded prominence on the back of a sepal, as in the common dock.
- Temper; natural disposition; inclination.
- (Can we date this quote by Hayward and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- brothers […] not united in grain
- (Can we date this quote by Hayward and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- (photography, videography) 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.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
|
|
|
|
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
|
See also
- cereal
- Appendix:Grains – translation tables for various grains
Verb
grain (third-person singular simple present grains, present participle graining, simple past and past participle grained)
- To feed grain to.
- (transitive) To make granular; to form into grains.
- (intransitive) To form grains, or to assume a granular form, as the result of crystallization; to granulate.
- To texture a surface in imitation of the grain of a substance such as wood.
- (tanning) To remove the hair or fat from a skin.
- (tanning) To soften leather.
- To yield fruit.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Gower to this entry?)
Translations
|
|
|
|
Etymology 2
From Middle English grayn, from Old Norse grein.
Noun
grain (plural grains)
- A branch of a tree; a stalk or stem of a plant.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of G. Douglas to this entry?)
- A tine, prong, or fork.
- One of the branches of a valley or river.
- An iron fish spear or harpoon, with a number of points half-barbed inwardly.
- 1770: Served 5 lb of fish per man which was caught by striking with grains — journal of Stephen Forwood (gunner on H.M. Bark Endeavour), 4 May 1770, quoted by Parkin (page 195).
- A blade of a sword, knife, etc.
- (founding) A thin piece of metal, used in a mould to steady a core.
Further reading
- “grain”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “grain”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
French
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle French, from Old French grain, grein, from Latin grānum, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm.
Noun
grain m (plural grains)
- grain
- (figurative) a small amount, a bit
Derived terms
Related terms
Etymology 2
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Noun
grain m (plural grains)
Anagrams
Further reading
- “grain”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Middle English
Verb
grain
- Alternative form of greynen
Old French
Alternative forms
Etymology
Noun
grain oblique singular, m (oblique plural grainz, nominative singular grainz, nominative plural grain)
- grain (edible part of a cereal plant)
- circa 1120, Philippe de Taon, Bestiaire, line 421:
- E quant grain ad truved de tuz maneres de bled
- When it [the ant] found grain of all manners of wheat
Related terms
Descendants
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/eɪn
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms borrowed from Old French
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- Requests for date/John Milton
- Requests for quotations/Knight
- en:Botany
- Requests for date/Hayward
- en:Photography
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- Requests for quotations/Gower
- English terms derived from Old Norse
- Requests for quotations/G. Douglas
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- Rhymes:French/ɛ̃
- French terms inherited from Middle French
- French terms derived from Middle French
- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms inherited from Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European
- French terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- fr:Nautical
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English verbs
- Old French terms inherited from Latin
- Old French terms derived from Latin
- Old French lemmas
- Old French nouns
- Old French masculine nouns
- Old French terms with quotations