2. The fruit of certain grasses which furnish the chief food
of man, as corn, wheat, rye, oats, etc., or the plants
themselves; -- used collectively.
Storehouses crammed with grain. --Shak.
3. Any small, hard particle, as of sand, sugar, salt, etc.;
hence, any minute portion or particle; as, a grain of
gunpowder, of pollen, of starch, of sense, of wit, etc.
I . . . with a grain of manhood well resolved.
--Milton.
4. The unit of the English system of weights; -- so called
because considered equal to the average of grains taken
from the middle of the ears of wheat. 7,000 grains
constitute the pound avoirdupois, and 5,760 grains the
pound troy. A grain is equal to .0648 gram. See {Gram.}
5. 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}.
All in a robe of darkest grain. --Milton.
Doing as the dyers do, who, having first dipped
their silks in colors of less value, then give' them
the last tincture of crimson in grain. --Quoted by
Coleridge,
preface to
Aids to
Reflection.
6. The composite particles of any substance; that arrangement
of the particles of any body which determines its
comparative roughness or hardness; texture; as, marble,
sugar, sandstone, etc., of fine grain.
Hard box, and linden of a softer grain. --Dryden.
7. The direction, arrangement, or appearance of the fibers in
wood, or of the strata in stone, slate, etc.
Knots, by the conflux of meeting sap, Infect the
sound pine and divert his grain Tortive and errant
from his course of growth. --Shak.
8. The fiber which forms the substance of wood or of any
fibrous material.
9. The hair side of a piece of leather, or the marking on
that side. --Knight.
10. pl. The remains of grain, etc., after brewing or
distillation; hence, any residuum. Also called {draff.}
11. (Bot.) A rounded prominence on the back of a sepal, as in
the common dock. See {Grained}, a., 4.
12. Temper; natural disposition; inclination. [Obs.]
Brothers . . . not united in grain. --Hayward.
13. A sort of spice, the grain of paradise. [Obs.]
He cheweth grain and licorice, To smellen sweet.
--Chaucer.
{Against the grain}, against or across the direction of the
fibers; hence, against one's wishes or tastes;
unwillingly; unpleasantly; reluctantly; with difficulty.
--Swift.--Saintsbury.
{A grain of allowance}, a slight indulgence or latitude a
small allowance.
{Grain binder}, an attachment to a harvester for binding the
grain into sheaves.
{Grain colors}, dyes made from the coccus or kermes in sect.
{Grain leather}.
(a) Dressed horse hides.
(b) Goat, seal, and other skins blacked on the grain side
for women's shoes, etc.
{Grain moth} (Zo["o]l.), one of several small moths, of the
family {Tineid[ae]} (as {Tinea granella} and {Butalis
cerealella}), whose larv[ae] devour grain in storehouses.
{Grain side} (Leather), the side of a skin or hide from which
the hair has been removed; -- opposed to {flesh side.}
{Grains of paradise}, the seeds of a species of amomum.
{grain tin}, crystalline tin ore metallic tin smelted with
charcoal.
{Grain weevil} (Zo["o]l.), a small red weevil (Sitophilus
granarius), which destroys stored wheat and othar grain,
by eating out the interior.
{Grain worm} (Zo["o]l.), the larva of the grain moth. See
{grain moth}, above.
{In grain}, of a fast color; deeply seated; fixed; innate;
genuine. ``Anguish in grain.'' --Herbert.
{To dye in grain}, to dye of a fast color by means of the
coccus or kermes grain [see {Grain}, n., 5]; hence, to dye
firmly; also, to dye in the wool, or in the raw material.
See under {Dye.}
The red roses flush up in her cheeks . . . Likce
crimson dyed in grain. --Spenser.
{To go against the grain of} (a person), to be repugnant to;
to vex, irritate, mortify, or trouble.
2. To form (powder, sugar, etc.) into grains.
3. To take the hair off (skins); to soften and raise the
grain of (leather, etc.).
2. To form grains, or to assume a granular ferm, as the
result of crystallization; to granulate.
2. A tine, prong, or fork. Specifically:
(a) One the branches of a valley or of a river.
(b) pl. An iron first speak or harpoon, having four or
more barbed points.
3. A blade of a sword, knife, etc.
4. (Founding) A thin piece of metal, used in a mold to steady
a core.