- a small, hard seed, especially the seed of a food plant such as wheat, corn, rye, oats, rice, or millet.
- the gathered seed of food plants, especially of cereal plants.
- such plants collectively.
- any small, hard particle, as of sand, gold, pepper, or gunpowder.
- 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).
- the smallest possible amount of anything: a grain of truth.
- the arrangement or direction of fibers in wood, or the pattern resulting from this.
- 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.
- the side of leather from which the hair has been removed.
- 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.
- Textiles.
- the fibers or yarn in a piece of fabric as differentiated from the fabric itself.
- the direction of threads in a woven fabric in relation to the selvage.
- the lamination or cleavage of stone, coal, etc.
- any of the individual crystalline particles forming a metal.
- a unit of weight equal to 50 milligrams or ¼ carat, used for pearls and sometimes for diamonds.
- the size of constituent particles of any substance; texture: sugar of fine grain.
- a granular texture or appearance: a stone of coarse grain.
- a state of crystallization: boiled to the grain.
- temper or natural character: two brothers of similar grain.
- a unit of solid propellant.
- color or hue.
- to form into grains; granulate.
- to give a granular appearance to.
- to paint in imitation of the grain of wood, stone, etc.: metal doors grained to resemble oak.
- to feed grain to (an animal).
- Tanning.
- to remove the hair from (skins).
- to soften and raise the grain of (leather).
- in opposition to one's temper, inclination, or character: Haggling always went against her grain.
- salt1 (def. 24).
- the small hard seedlike fruit of a grass, esp a cereal plant
- a mass of such fruits, esp when gathered for food
- the plants, collectively, from which such fruits are harvested
- a small hard particle
- the general direction or arrangement of the fibrous elements in paper or wood
- the pattern or texture of wood resulting from such an arrangement
- the relative size of the particles of a substance
- the granular texture of a rock, mineral, etc
- the appearance of a rock, mineral, etc, determined by the size and arrangement of its constituents
- the outer (hair-side) layer of a hide or skin from which the hair or wool has been removed
- the pattern on the outer surface of such a hide or skin
- a surface artificially imitating the grain of wood, leather, stone, etc; graining
- 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
- a metric unit of weight used for pearls or diamonds, equal to 50 milligrams or one quarter of a carat
- the threads or direction of threads in a woven fabric
- 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
- a granular effect in a television picture caused by electrical noise
- cleavage lines in crystalline material, parallel to growth planes
- 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
- a state of crystallization
- a very small amount
- natural disposition, inclination, or character (esp in the phrase go against the grain)
- a homogenous mass of solid propellant in a form designed to give the required combustion characteristics for a particular rocket
- kermes or a red dye made from this insect
- dyeing an obsolete word for colour
- without wholly believing: sceptically
- to form grains or cause to form into grains; granulate; crystallize
- to give a granular or roughened appearance or texture to
- to paint, stain, etc, in imitation of the grain of wood or leather
- to remove the hair or wool from (a hide or skin) before tanning
- to raise the grain pattern on (leather)