grate

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See also: Grate, gråte, and Gräte

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Perhaps from a Late Latin or Vulgar Latin grata, from a Latin word for a hurdle; or Italian grata, from Latin cratis.

Noun

grate (plural grates)

  1. a horizontal metal grill through which water, ash, or small objects can fall, while larger objects cannot
    The grate stopped the sheep from escaping from their field.
    • (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      a secret grate of iron bars
  2. a frame or bed, or kind of basket, of iron bars, for holding fuel while burning
Synonyms
Translations

Verb

grate (third-person singular simple present grates, present participle grating, simple past and past participle grated)

  1. (transitive) to furnish with grates; to protect with a grating or crossbars
    to grate a window

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Old French grater (“to scrape”) ( > French gratter), from Frankish *krattōn, from Proto-Germanic *krattōną. Cognate with Old High German krazzon[1] ( > German kratzen (“to scrawl”) > Danish kradse), Icelandic krassa (“to scrawl”) [2] and Danish kratte.

Verb

grate (third-person singular simple present grates, present participle grating, simple past and past participle grated)

  1. (transitive, cooking) to shred things, usually foodstuffs, by rubbing across a grater
    I need to grate the cheese before the potato is cooked.
  2. (intransitive) to make an unpleasant rasping sound, often as the result of rubbing against something
    • 1856, Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part 3 Chapter X, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling
      The gate suddenly grated. It was Lestiboudois; he came to fetch his spade, that he had forgotten. He recognised Justin climbing over the wall, and at last knew who was the culprit who stole his potatoes.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      The turmoil went on—no rest, no peace. […] It was nearly eleven o'clock now, and he strolled out again. In the little fair created by the costers' barrows the evening only seemed beginning; and the naphtha flares made one's eyes ache, the men's voices grated harshly, and the girls' faces saddened one.
    Listening to his teeth grate all day long drives me mad.
    The chalk grated against the board.
  3. (by extension, intransitive) to grate on one’s nerves; to irritate, annoy
    She’s nice enough, but she can begin to grate if there is no-one else to talk to.
  4. (by extension, transitive, obsolete) to annoy
    • (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      News, my good lord Rome […] grates me.
Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 3

From Latin grātus (“agreeable”).

Adjective

grate (comparative more grate, superlative most grate)

  1. (obsolete) serving to gratify; agreeable.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir T. Herbert to this entry?)

Etymology 4

Adjective

grate (comparative more grate, superlative most grate)

  1. Obsolete spelling of great.
    • c. 1815, Mary Woody, A true account of Nayomy Wise
      He promisd her a grate reward

References

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “glut”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  2. ^ Etymology of kradse in ODS

Anagrams

Italian

Pronunciation

Adjective

grate f

  1. (deprecated template usage) Feminine plural of adjective grato.

Anagrams

Latin

Etymology

From grātus (“agreeable”).

Pronunciation

Adverb

grātē (comparative grātius, superlative grātissimē)

  1. gladly, willingly
  2. gratefully, thankfully

References

  • “grate”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “grate”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
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