| 释义 |
▪ I. grain, n.1|greɪn|
Forms: 3–6 greyn(e, 4 grein(e, 4–7 grayn(e, 5, 7 grane, (6 grene, 5 pl. grennys), 6–7 graine, 5– grain.
[Two formations: (1) a. OF. grain, grein (mod.F. grain) = Pr. gran, gra, Sp. grano, Pg. grão, It. grano:—L. grānum a grain, seed; (2) a. OF. grain(n)e (mod.F. graine) seeds collectively, seed = Pr., Sp., It. grana:—pop. L. grāna fem., orig. pl. of grānum.]
I. Seed; seed of cereal plants, corn.
†1.
a. A single seed of a plant, esp. one which is small, hard, and roundish in form. (After 15th c. almost exclusively: The stone or pip of a fruit.)
13..E.E. Allit. P. A 31 Vch gresse mot grow of graynez dede. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. lxxxi. (1495) 652 A greyne is the leest party both of the sede and of the tree, in euery greyne is both pyth and rynde. a1400–50Alexander 1984 Loo, here a gloue full of graynes I graythe þe to take. c1420Pallad. on Husb. iii. 805 Ek peris men deuyde, And pike awey the greyne of euery side. 1486Bk. St. Albans C vij b, Take ye greynes of shaffelegre. 1502Arnolde Chron. 167 Wan y⊇ mone is in tauro it is good tyme to plante trees of graynes and pepins. 1528Paynell Salerne's Regim. G iv b, The lyuer is fatted with them [grapes]..if they be clensed from y graynes or kyrnels. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 335 The stones or grains of Vitis Alba, otherwise called Brionie. 1684Contempl. State Man i. iv. (1699) 45 Life..is so frail and slippery, that..even the Grain of a Grape hath been able to..over⁓throw it. 1796H. Hunter St. Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) II. Explan. Plates 11 Aquatic grains have characters entirely opposite to those which are produced on the mountains. 1823J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 187 A grain of a raisin.
fig.1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xix. 269 Grace gaue greynes, the cardynales vertues, And sewe hem in mannes soule. 1390Gower Conf. I. 14 They no greine of pite sowe. a1400–50Alexander 5622 Sum grayne of godhede..was growen ȝow within. 14..Purif. Marie in Tundale's Vis. (1843) 135 That he..lyke a dowve bysyly aspye Wher he of vertu gedur may the greyne. c1440Psalmi Penitent. (1894) 16 Yn my flesch ther nys non helthe, Therfor, of grace sende me greynus.
†b. in the grain: in the stage of forming or producing seed. Obs.
1613Purchas Pilgrimage viii. ii. (1614) 734 Where Wheate and Mays will not grow, but so vnequally, that at one instant, some is in the grasse, other in the graine.
2. spec. A seed or corn of a cereal plant.
In botanical language a grain of a cereal plant is not a ‘seed’ but a ‘fruit’ of the kind called caryopsis.
c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 35 Þe secounde fruyt, of the sixtiþe greyn. 1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. (E.E.T.S.) 3315 She hadde..Off a lytel barly greyn Makyd an Er large & pleyn. 1450–1530Myrr. our Ladye 201 Blyssed be thow..that haste sowen a grayne of the beste whete in the best lande. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 764 At the end of every song,..laying downe two or three Graines of Wheate. 1806Hutton Course Math. I. 25 The original of all weights used in England, was a grain or corn of wheat, gathered out of the middle of the ear. 1842Gray Struct. Bot. vii. §2 (1880) 295 A Caryopsis or Grain. 1885G. L. Goodale Physiol. Bot. (1892) 181 The so-called ‘grains’ of the cereals are fruits instead of seeds.
3. collect. sing.
a. The fruit or seed of wheat and the allied food-plants or grasses († rarely of beans, etc.); the plants themselves whether reaped or standing; = corn n.1 3, 4. † Also grain of wheat.
In England the colloquial word for this sense is corn, which in the U.S. has a different application.
c1315Shoreham 30 Jesus seyth the vygne be hys, And eke the greyn of wete. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 112 Schal no greyn that heer groweth gladen ow at neode. c1386Chaucer Prol. 595 Wel wiste he, by the droghte, and by the reyn, The yielding of his seed and of his greyn. c1420Pallad. on Husb. i. 217 Eek hillis yeld is Wel gretter grayn and fewer, then in feeld is. 1467in Eng. Gilds (1870) 382 Barly ne malte ne none other greyne. c1550Decay Eng. by Shepe (E.E.T.S.) 98 Euery ploughe to sell .xxx. quarters of grayne by the yeare. 1598W. Phillip Linschoten xxxvii. 71 They have a custome..to cast corn and other graine vpon the ground to feed birds and beastes withal. 1632Lithgow Trav. ii. 66 A Girnell for grayne. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 797 The lab'ring Swain Scratch'd with a Rake, a Furrow for his Grain. 1727–46Thomson Seasons, Summer 361 Wide flies the tedded grain. 1740Somerville Hobbinol ii. 133 The ripen'd Grain, whose bending Ears Invite the Reaper's Hand. 1753J. Bartlet Gentl. Farriery i. 2 Beans afford the strongest nourishment of all grain. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) V. 344 All this tribe..feeding upon grain. 1817–8Cobbett Resid. U.S. (1822) 4 The general harvest for grain (what we call corn) is a full month earlier than in the South of England! 1847Tennyson Princ. Concl. 89 A lord of fat prize-oxen and of sheep..A pamphleteer on guano and on grain. 1879J. D. Burns Mem. & Rem. 422 The husbandman employs different processes in preparing his grain for use.
b. A particular species of corn. † Also pl. Crops of grain.
c1400Mandeville (1839) xxxi. 310 Corn of dyverse greynes and of Ryzs. c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 95 This Realme gave to their Kyng..the ixth Scheff of their Graynys. 1494Fabyan v. cxxxvi. 122 Whete & other graynes were at an excedyng pryce. 1544tr. Littleton's Tenures 15 b, If the lesse sowe the lande & the lessour..before that his graynes be rype putteth him out, yet [etc.]. 1704Old Tour in Scotl. in Blackw. Mag. Feb. (1818) 520/2 Barley is a sumer grain, and beer a winter grain. 1732Arbuthnot Rules of Diet i. 250 Mays not so easily brought to Fermentation as other Grains. 1767A. Young Farmer's Lett. to People 310 The grain, or grass, which seems best to suit it [the soil]. 1825Philos. Jrnl. 25 Apr., The grains which extend farthest to the north in Europe are barley and oats. 1870J. Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 128 Wheat is the chief grain of temperate and sub-temperate climates.
c. fig. (Cf. a like use of L. farina.)
1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. ii. iii. 27 [Those men] are both of one graine, sowne and reaped vnder one and the same Moone, bread of the same meale.
4. Specialized applications of the plural.
a. (in full grains of Paradise: in early use also sing.): The capsules of Amomum Meleguetta of Western Africa (cf. cardamom b), used as a spice and in medicine; called also Guinea grains (see Guinea).
a1366Chaucer Rom. Rose 1369 Clowe-gelofre, and licoryce, Gingere, and greyn de Parys [orig. Graine de paradis]. c1386― Miller's T. 504 But first he cheweth greyn and lycorys, To smellen swete. c1420Liber Cocorum (1862) 38 Take..Of maces, cloves and graynys also. c1460J. Russell Bk. Nurture 126 Graynes of paradise, hoote & moyst þey be. 1542Borde Dyetary (1870) 286 Graynes be good for the stomake and the head. 1614B. Jonson Barth. Fair iv. iv, I'ld cure him now..with..garlike, long pepper, and graines. 1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 225 Steep the Regulus of Antimony in Ale, with a little of the Spice called Grains. 1705W. Bosman Guinea 305 Malagueta, otherwise called Paradise-Grains, or Guinea Pepper. 1743Lond. & Country Brew. iv. 288 When I found it [Two-Penny Drink] left a hot Tang behind it, it gave me just Reason to believe they had used Grains of Paradise, or long Pepper, both which will save Malt. 1812J. Smyth Pract. of Customs (1821) 96 Guinea Grains and Grains of Paradise are considered by the Trade, as one and the same article. 1850Kingsley Alt. Locke viii, ‘Beer poisoned wi' grains o' Paradise and cocculus indicus.’
b. Refuse malt left after brewing or distilling.
In the first quot. the sense seems to be ‘malt’.
1583T. Stocker tr. Trag. Hist. Civ. Wars Low C. i. iii. 118 b, And the fift day, they made ordenaunces concerning their flesh victual, and Graynes, which they began to bake [orig. gasteaus de brassin qu'on commençoit a cuyre]. Ibid., The greater sort of the common people dronk water, by reason that the grains was baked into bread. 1595Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. (1885) II. 94 No persone..shall sell any Draffe graynes or branne by any other measure then onlye by the measure that they by..theire corne bye. 1616Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 105 There is also two other Foods..excellent for Hogges: the first whereof is Ale or Beere Graines. a1659Cleveland Coachman 16 There's Difference in the Reins Of Horses fed with Oats, and fed with Grains. 1718Bates in Phil. Trans. XXX. 880 The feeding Cows with Distillers Grains was a new Custom. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 138 ⁋13, I met Miss Busy carrying grains to a sick cow. 1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. II. 34 Brewers' grains. In Norfolk, grains have been employed as a manure. 1880Daily Tel. 9 Jan., Advt., Owing to the deficient root crop..stockowners should use ale or stout grains.
†c. = duckweed. (Also greens: see green n.)
1578Lyte Dodoens i. lxxi. 107 In English water Lentils, Duckes meate, and Graynes. 1597Gerarde Herbal ii. cclxxxvii. 690 Ducks meate: some terme it after the Greek water Lentils, and of others it is named Graines.
5.
†a. A berry, grape. (So F. grain.) Obs.
b. One of the parts of a collective fruit.
c. (See quot. 1829.)
a.c1315Shoreham 23 Ase the wyne to gadere flouthe Of manye greyne ytake. 1388Wyclif Lev. xix. 10 Nethir in thi vyner thou schalt gadere reysyns and greynes falling down [Vulg. racemos et grana cadentia]. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 273 Þe cure herof is with electuari maad of greynes of lauri. c1430Pilgr. Lyf Manhode ii. cxlvii. (1869) 134, I serue of vinegre and of vergeous, and of greynes þat ben soure and greene. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 155 Excellent Grapes..which they..load and unload..without hurting the least grain. 1693Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. I. 157 The Chassela's..is a very sweet Grape..its grain or Berry is large and crackling.
b.1674tr. Scheffer's Hist. Lapland 141 Each Berry being divided as it were into graines of a pale yellow color. 1859W. S. Coleman Woodlands (1862) 106 The grains of which it [the dewberry] is composed are..covered with fine bloom.
c.1829Loudon Encycl. Plants 1100 The segments of the flowers of Rumex have tubercles which are called grains.
II. Senses originally transferred from 1 and 2.
†6. A bead, esp. one of the beads of a rosary (so F. grain); also, a pearl. Obs.
a1310in Wright Lyric P. xi. 38 A grein in gold that godly shon. 1579Fulke Heskins' Parl. 456 Their graines of the Trinitie, and such other gaudes. 1630Wadsworth Pilgr. iii. 18 They haue..Meddals and hallowed graines from his holinesse. 1662J. Davies tr. Mandelslo's Trav. 254 They sold us a fat Sheep..for 7. or 8. grains of Coral or Agat, and a Capon for 3. or 4. grains of counterfeit Coral.
7. a. A small, hard, usually roundish particle (e.g. of sand, gold, salt, pepper). with a grain of salt (fig.): see salt.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 417/486 Þare nas inne [the grave of S. John] nouȝht bote smale greynes..i-cleoped Manna in holi write. 1384Chaucer H. Fame ii. 183 And moo berdys in two oures..then greynes be of sondes. c1440Jacob's Well (E.E.T.S.) 303 Grauel & sande han stonys and greynys wyth-oute noumbre. c1500Melusine xxi. 128 One grayne of peper alone smertith more on mans tonge than doth a sacke full of whete. 1601R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 167 In manie rivers are found graines of gold. Ibid., Hee maketh graines of salt and pepper to passe for current coine. 1651Hobbes Leviath. iii. xlii. 270 The Multiplication of a grain of Mustard-seed. 1667Milton P.L. viii. 17 This Earth, a spot, a grain, An atom, with the Firmament compar'd. 1687A. Lovell Thevenot's Trav. i. 124 The surface of them [obelisks in Egypt] seems to be covered with little grains. 1719De Foe Crusoe (1840) I. iii. 44 Gold-dust, Guinea grains. 1799Scot. Described (ed. 2) 16 Gold has been gathered in Grains among the sands of the Elvan. 1813J. Thomson Lect. Inflam. 289 The smooth surface..is..raised into a number of small eminences, like grains or papillæ. These little eminences are termed granulations. 1838E. Brown Serm. iii. 45 What so insignificant in the inanimate creation as a grain of dust? 1871R. Ellis tr. Catullus lxxxvi. 4 In all that bodily largeness, Lives not a grain of salt, breathes not a charm anywhere. 1888F. Hume Mad. Midas i. ii, A paper full of grains of gold.
b. spec. Of gunpowder: A particle of definite size, varying according to requirements. (Also poet. in collective sense.) Also attrib. in large, small, etc. grain powder.
1667Milton P.L. iv. 817 The Smuttie graine, With sudden blaze diffus'd, inflames the Aire. Ibid. vi. 515. 1714 Gay Trivia iii. 384 The smutty Train With running blaze awakes the barrell'd Grain. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) I 4 b, The powder..expands so as to occupy a much greater space than when in grains. 1846Greener Sci. Gunnery 248 All barrels have a size of grain that will suit them best. 1859F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 92 Large grain, or common powder.
c. Of incense (see quot.).
1853Rock Ch. of Fathers III. ii. 98 A deacon sang..the blessing of this candle, as well as of the incense, large knobs of which, or as they are now called ‘grains’, were stuck up on it at one part of this ceremony.
†d. A lump or nugget (of gold). Obs. rare.
1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 913 That admirable graine of gold..weighed in the first finding..many thousand crowns.
e. Any of the irregularly shaped discrete particles or crystals in a rock or a metal, usu. but not necessarily small: (i) in Petrol.; (ii) in Metallurgy.
(i)1813R. Bakewell Introd. Geol. ii. 25 Granitic, composed of grains or crystals closely united without a cement. 1836Edin. New Philos. Jrnl. IX. 268 It [sc. the granite] is not throughout pure, but is occasionally mixed with the gneiss,..or its ingredients, especially felspar, are disseminated in grains or crystals. 1882A. Geikie Text-bk. Geol. ii. ii. 140 Pitchstone... Examined microscopically, it is found to consist of glass in which are diffused..angular or irregular grains, or more definitely formed crystals. 1939A. Johannsen Descr. Petrogr. (ed. 2) I. iii. 31 When the constituents [of the rock] are..from walnut to cocoanut size, it is very coarse-grained. Occasionally rocks are of still larger grain; certain pegmatites, for example, have grains of several cubic meters or more in size. 1970Encycl. Brit. X. 163/1 The high-silica rocks are generally light coloured and their excess of silica is expressed in abundant grains of quartz.
(ii)1899Ewing & Rosenhain in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. CXCIII. 355 When the polished surface of a metal, such as gold or iron, is lightly etched, and is then examined by means of normally reflected..light, the surface appears divided up into a number of areas separated by more or less polygonal boundaries. These areas are the sections of the crystalline grains which constitute the mass of the metal. 1923Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics V. 392/2 A section cut parallel to the direction of extension shows that the metal still consists of an aggregate of grains, but instead of a system of equi-axed crystals we now find grains elongated in the direction of extension. 1953Science News XXIX. 36 The atoms [in a metal] are..aligned in small regions called grains; one grain containing rows of atoms lying at an angle to the rows in the neighbouring grains. 1965W. A. Tiller in R. W. Cahn Physical Metall. ix. 431 The main volume of the ingot generally consists of a zone of long columnar grains and a zone of equiaxed grains.
f. Aeronaut. A piece of solid propellant of the shape and size used in a rocket engine.
1952K. W. Gatland Devel. Guided Missile 125 Tiny Tim... Solid-propellent (4 × 40 lb solventless extruded ballistite grains, discharge through 24 nozzles). 1954Ibid. (ed. 2) i. 34 The smokeless propellants used in modern rocket projectiles..may be produced in the form of tubes, or grains, of any desired length and thickness. 1962F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics x. 417 Early solid rocket grains were ignited at one end and burned ‘cigarette fashion’ along the chamber. 1966McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. XI. 606/2 In some rockets there is more than one grain inside the same combustion chamber.
8. The smallest English and U.S. unit of weight (for the origin see quot. 1542); now = 1/5760 of a lb. Troy, 1/7000 of a lb. avoirdupois. diamond grain (see quot. 1883). fine grain (see fine a. 2 b).
1542Recorde Gr. Artes (1575) 202 After the statutes of Englande, the least portion of waight is commonly a Grayne, meaning a grayne of corne or wheate, drie, and gathered out of the middle of the eare. 1660Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. vi. 59 We found the weight increas'd onely by one Grain. 1670Dryden 2nd Pt. Conq. Granada Epil., None of 'em, no not Johnson in his Height, Could pass, without allowing Grains for Weight. 1684R. Waller Nat. Exper. 77 A pair of Scales that turned with the 1/48 part of a Grane. 1747Wesley Prim. Physick (1762) 84 Take from eight to twelve Grains of Calomel. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 763 The assayers' grains are called fine grains. 1870Jevons Elem. Logic xxvi. 222 When a chemist analyses a few grains of water. 1883A. H. Church Precious Stones vii. 50 It [the carat] is, however, spoken of as being equal to 4 grains, the grains meant being ‘diamond’ grains, and not ordinary troy or avoirdupois grains. Thus a diamond grain is but .7925 of a true grain.
9. In figurative applications of senses 7 and 8: The smallest possible quantity; esp. in negative contexts. For the phr. grains of allowance cf. quot. 1670 in sense 8.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 139, I myȝte gete no greyne of his grete wittis. 1559Mirr. Mag., Clifford ii. 3 My faultes be out so playne..That though I would I can not hide a grayne. 1593Drayton Eclog. 5 If there so much be left but as a Graine, Of the great stock of antike Poesie. 1629Chapman Juvenal 16 His forme and prime..May well allow him some few Graines of pride. 1643Milton Divorce i. iv. (1851) 31 The lonelinesse which leads him still powerfully to seeke a fit helpe, hath not the least grain of a sin in it. 1647Trapp Comm. 1 Pet. i. 6 When our hearts grow a grain too light, God seeth it but needfull to make us heavy through manifold temptations. 1648Rouse Balm Love 10 Thou must give every Saint those graines of allowance which the Apostle gives him. 1654Warren Unbelievers 98 The Minor are the words of Christ..and need not a graine of allowance. 1676[see allowance 9]. 1706Hearne Collect. 9 Apr. (O.H.S.) I. 221 A..stupid Blockhead, without one Grain of Learning. 1713Steele Englishman No. 1. 5 Your Man..might have given some Grains of Allowance to a good Droll for being a bad Politician. 1735–8Bolingbroke On Parties 69 He had not a Grain of Pride, or Vanity, in his whole Composition. 1775Sheridan Rivals ii. i, A little less simplicity with a grain or two more sincerity. 1868J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. I. 360 Nor is it probable that it ever had a grain of truth in it. 1879Tourgee Fool's Err. xxxiii. 217 An inferior race, whose evidence, at best, would have to be taken with many grains of allowance. 1894Drummond Ascent Man 391 Wedded life without a grain of love.
III. With reference to dyeing. [OF. graine; the kermes was believed to consist of seeds or berries.]
10. Hist. The Kermes or Scarlet Grain (see alkermes 1); in later use also applied to Cochineal. Also, the dye made from either of these.
1335–6Durham Acct. Rolls 527 Ij li. de grayn. 1340Ayenb. 107 Zuo moche ydept yne grayne. 1465Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 164 My Mastyre delyverd..of crymeson owt of greyn, ij. yerdes. 1488–9Act 4 Hen. VII, c. 8 And a brode yerde of Wollen cloth of ony other Colour out of grayne. 1502Arnolde Chron. (1811) 87 To sarse syfte and trye out the beste greyne and ther wyth dye and greyne their owne clothes. 1601Holland Pliny I. 461 The Scarlet grain..which commeth of the Ilex. 1617Moryson Itin. iii. i. iv. 96 The Spaniards and Portugals brought graine for Scarlet Dye. 1649Bp. Reynolds Hosea vi. 68 The grace of God unto the purposes of men is like graine to colours died. 1861Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon Med. Zool. ii. iii. i. 71 The Common Cochineal..was supposed to be a small berry or grain, known as ‘Shining Grain’. 1883Contemp. Rev. Sept. 427 The chief reds were scarlet..and grain, imported from Portugal.
fig.1578W. Clowes in Lyte Dodoens Commend., Lyte, whose toyle hath not bene light, to dye it in this grayne. 1626T. Ailesbury Passion Serm. 23 Tyranny cloatheth him with one purple, died in the purest graine of his bloud.
b. to dye (rarely, to put) in grain: orig. to dye in scarlet grain or kermes; afterwards, to dye in any fast colour, to dye in the fibre, or thoroughly (see note on engrain v.).
c1386Chaucer Sqr.'s T. 503 So depe in greyn he dyed his colours. 1580North Plutarch (1676) 7 This sail..was not white, but red, died in grain, and of the colour of Scarlet. 1650Fuller Pisgah iv. vi. 99 These colours not being dyed in grain, lose much of their lustre, and gloss in washing. 1715Lond. Gaz. No. 5387/4 His new invented Art of Printing, Dying or Staining of Calicoes in Grain. 1742Shenstone Schoolmistress vi. 48 Her apron, dy'd in grain, as blue, I trowe, As is the hare-bell.
fig.1567R. Edwards Damon & Pithias (1571) B ij a, A Villaine for his life, a Varlet died in Graine. 1598Drayton Heroic. Ep. ix. 124 Greene, Scroope, and Bushy dye his fault in graine. 1651–3Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year 92 Our Reason is first stained..with the Dye of our Kindred, and Countrey, and our Education puts it in grain. 1670R. Lassels Voy. Italy I. 221 Its a Gentry dyed in grain, that is, its both witty and rich. 1731Swift Strephon & Chloe 85 She, a goddess dy'd in grain, Was unsusceptible of stain. 1775Burke Corr. (1844) II. 4 My American measures..have a certain unity of colour which has stood wearing for upwards of nine years... It is indeed dyed in grain.
c. in grain [short for dyed in grain, or a rendering of F. en graine], adjectival phrase = dyed scarlet or crimson, fast dyed; hence in figurative use, esp. with contemptuous epithets, as ass, fool, knave, rogue, etc.: Downright, by nature, pure and simple, genuine, thorough. Also as predicate, indelible, ineradicable, ingrained. See also ingrain a.
c1386Chaucer Sir Thopas 16 His rode is lyk scarlet in grayn. 1441Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 208 Farewelle, velvet, and clothes in grayn. 1531in Weaver Wells Wills (1890) 22 Maud K. my gowne off vyolett yn grayne. a1577Misogonus i. iv. 17 (Brandl Quellen 434), Now by me, trwlye, thou art a knaue, an grane. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. iii. ii. 108 Anti. That's a fault that water will mend. Dro. No sir, 'tis in graine, Noahs flood could not do it. 1599Minsheu Dial. Sp. & Eng. (1623) 34 Go to, make an end babler in graine. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. i. v. 255 Vio. Excellently done, if God did all. Ol. Tis in graine sir, 'twill endure winde and weather. 1606Choice, Chance, etc. (1881) 3 Here are conceits of diuerse colours, some in graine and none but will bide the weather. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Game, Fol à la haulte game, an arrant foole..; an Asse in graine. 1613Wither Motto, Nec Habeo (1633) 518 To maintain a habit for my Minde Of Truth in graine. c1650Roxb. Ballads (1886) I. 317 Then Drawer, go fill a Quart, and let it be Claret in grain. a1661Fuller Worthies (1840) II. 551 Some who properly may be termed knaves in grain. 1698Crowne Caligula ii. Dram. Wks. (1874) IV. 377 Princes are slaves in purple, slaves in grain. 1719D'Urfey Pills (1872) IV. 60 No Woman should deceive my Thought, With Colours not in Grain. 1759Sterne Tr. Shandy i. xxi, My father, as I told you, was a philosopher in grain. 1793T. Jefferson Writings (1859) IV. 5 Dumourier was known to be a scoundrel in grain. 1840Carlyle Misc. II. 84 Being palpably a Turk in grain, his intents are wicked. 1862Sat. Rev. XIV. 370/2 To paint himself as a saint in grain, but a sinner by accident. 1863Keble Life Bp. Wilson xvii. 540 He was an antiquarian in grain, and delighted in exact observation. 1886R. Boyle in Trans. New Shaks. Soc. 585 Massinger's corrupt female natures are in grain.
11. Dye in general, esp. a fast dye; colour, hue. Now only poet.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xvi. 59 Of o gretnesse, and grene of greyne thei [this thre piles] semen. c1394P. Pl. Crede 230 His kyrtel of clene whijt..Hyt was good y-now of ground, greyn for to beren. 1587M. Grove Pelops & Hipp. (1878) 100 Ne to change that colour sad, for any other graine. 1593Drayton Eclog. iii. 132 Beta shall have the firstling of the Fold, Yea, though the Hornes were of the purest gold, And the fine Fleece, the richest purple Graine. 1632Milton Penseroso 31 All in a robe of darkest grain. 1649G. Daniel Trinarch., Rich. II, 96 To make his Course-spun beare a Graine Fitt for a finer Thred. 1712Addison Spect. No. 412 ⁋4 In Birds..we often see the Mate determined in his Courtship by the single Grain or Tincture of a Feather. 1801Southey Thalaba i. 22 The ebony..With darkness feeds its boughs of raven grain. 1849Lytton K. Arthur ii. lxxxv, Cloth of comely grain.
fig.1641Milton Ch. Govt. (1851) 132 By this is seene..whose vertue is of an unchangeable graine, and whose of a slight wash. 1647N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. xxxix. (1739) 59 Then might that Penance be reduced to a Ransom (according to the grain of the offence). 1660H. Thurman in Wood Life 21 Oct. (O.H.S.) I. 370 Sins of so deep a graine as of killing a king. 1782J. Trumbull M'Fingal ii. (1795) 37 T' evade these crimes of blackest grain, You prate of Liberty in vain.
IV. Granular texture.
12. a. A roughness of surface, giving the appearance of ‘grains’ (sense 7) or small roundish bodies side by side. Hence in an engraving or drawing, a granular appearance produced by dots or lines.
1390Gower Conf. III. 27 He seeth her front is large and pleine Withoute frounce of any greine. 1607Topsell Serpents (1658) 791 The little Lizard, or Stellion starred in body grain [L. atris stellatus corpore guttis]. 1625Bacon Transl. cert. Ps. 8 The Compasse heauen, smooth without graine or fold, All set with Spangs of glitt'ring Stars vntold. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. xxiii. 168 The tooth of a Morse or Sea-horse in the midst of the solider part containing a curdled graine. 1715Gay Trivia i. 46 And Show'rs soon drench the Camlet's cockled Grain. 1812R. H. in Examiner 25 May 329/1 We regret that the..Artist does not clear out his copper a little better, so as to obviate a want of clearness of grain. 1821Craig Lect. Drawing vii. 401 These cracks..when bit in, form what is called the grain of the work. 1968Gloss. Terms Offset Lithogr. Printing (B.S.I.) 21 Grain, a roughened state of a lithographic surface which assists the retention of moisture and control of the image.
b. Photogr. An appearance of mottling or granulation in a negative.
1890Anthony's Photogr. Bull. III. 173 The former, owing to a certain amount of grain, are not adapted to make good sharp lantern plates.
13. spec. Of leather:
a. The rough or wrinkled surface resulting from the growth of papillæ.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 527 They leave it [pigskin] to the sadlers and to them that cover books—for which cause it is much better then either sheep or goats skins, for it hath a deeper grain. 1612Drayton Poly-olb. xiv. 233 The staple deepe and thicke, through, to the very graine. 1876Schultz Leather Manuf. 19 The grain must be fully preserved.
b. = grain-side (see 19 below).
1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 443 The skin is ‘split’..That known as the ‘grain’ (the part to which the fleece of the animal is attached) is very thin. 1885Harper's Mag. 276/2 Grains and splits together are again ‘pin-wheeled’.
c. A similar surface produced artificially.
1530[see grain v.1 6]. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 34 These [little dents]..make that grane which we see in Chagrin. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 769 A grain is formed upon the flesh side with the roughened lead plate or grainer of the curriers. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 88 The grain is made by passing a ball of boxwood, with grooves in it, over the skin many times. Ibid., Skins..marked with a handsome full grain of considerable size.
d. Short for grain-leather (see sense 19).
1895Montgomery Ward Catal. 516/1 A shoe..made from the finest grade of English imported grain... This grain consists of a very fine selection of calfskin, finished on the grain side. 1897Sears, Roebuck Catal. 193/3 Ladies' Bright Grain Button Shoe. 1930Daily Tel. 1 Dec. 15/1 Washable Grain Cape Gloves. 1949D. Woodroffe Stand. Handbk. Industr. Leathers i. 16 The grain is dressed for handbags, luggage, men's dress belts.
14. The texture of any substance; the arrangement and size of its constituent particles, appearing in an exposed surface or in a cross-cut or fracture:
a. in flesh or skin.
c1600Grobiana's Nuptialls Prol. (Bodl. MS. 30, fol. 13 a), Such as ne're swathed their feete in socks, for feare of the graine of their owne bodies. 1634Milton Comus 750 Coarse complexions, And cheeks of sorry grain. 1697W. Dampier Voy. (1698) I. iv. 91 The lean Flesh is black, and of a course grain. 1747H. Glasse Cookery xxi. 162 The hen [of the pheasant], if young, has smooth Legs, and her Flesh of a curious Grain. 1762–71H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) IV. 51 The head of an old woman..in which the grain of the skin, the hairs [etc.] were represented with the most exact minuteness. 1823J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 68 Dark persons observed to have skin of a finer grain than fair persons. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop iii, His hands, which were of a rough coarse grain, were very dirty.
b. in wood (cf. sense 15).
c1640J. Smyth Lives Berkeleys (1883) I. 161 My selfe havinge..told theire [Oakes'] ages..by the graine..made in a circle in every kind of tree by the yearly assent and consolidation of the sapp. 1664Evelyn Sylva (1679) 17 The Timber is far better, and of a finer grain, which grows upon the Mountains. 1672–3Grew Anat. Plants iv. iv. §3 (1682) 153 Giving the Leaf, as it were, a different Grain. 1725Pope Odyss. v. 302 The clouded olive's easy grain. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 91 Mahogany..grown on rocks is the..closest in the grain.
c. in stone, metal, etc.
1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 57 The English-steel..breaks Fiery, with somewhat a course Grain. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §218 note, A large flat stone, of a close grain. 1832G. R. Porter Porcelain & Gl. i. 11 The grain in both the Chinese and Saxon pieces appeared compact, smooth, and shining; while that of the French ware was less close..and its grain resembled sugar. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 22 Close in grain as the rock may appear to the eye.
d. Soap-making. (See quot. 1885.)
1884A. Watt Soap-making vi. 59 When a sample of the paste, after being allowed to cool, is firm and solid, and exhibits a good grain or ‘feather’ when cut, the soap is finished. 1885W. L. Carpenter Manuf. Soap & Candles i. 12 The appearances known as ‘grain’ or ‘strike’ in a hard soap, and ‘fig’ in a soft soap, are due to the crystalline character of soap.
e. concr. Internal substance.
1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Feb. 203 The Axes edge did oft turne againe, As halfe vnwilling to cut the graine. 1600Hakluyt Voy. (1810) III. 237 The graine of the bone is somewhat more yellow than the Ivorie. 1622Drayton Poly-olb. xxvi. 255 The lustie Salmon..Whose graine doth rise in flakes, with fatnesse interlarded. 1873Spon Workshop Receipts Ser. i 362/1 The middle of the blade [of whalebone] is of a looser texture than the rest, and is called the grain, being composed of coarse, bristly hairs.
fig.a1627Hayward Edw. VI (1630) 82 They liued..as brothers glued together but not vnited in graine.
15. The longitudinal arrangement of fibres or particles, in lines or veins more or less parallel along which the material is more easily cloven or cut than in any other direction:
a. in wood, producing often the effect of a pattern. grain upset: Naut. (see quot. 1867).
1565Cooper Thesaurus, Vndatim crispæ mensæ. Plin. Tables hauynge grayne lyke waues of water. 1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 8. 1674 tr. Scheffer's Lapland 47 When the grain of the wood, running from the bottom to the top of the tree, winds it self from the right hand to the left. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 68 The Grain of the Wood lying along the length of the Bench. 1801Knight in Phil. Trans. XCI. 344 There is..in every kind of wood, what workmen call its grain, consisting of two kinds, the false or bastard, and the true or silver grain. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 599 Having the grain of the wood to run in the same direction with the rail. 1834M. Somerville Connect. Phys. Sci. xvi. (1849) 150 The facility with which the vibrations of sound are transmitted along the grain of a log of wood is well known. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. vi, The light shone full upon the grain of certain panels. 1867Smyth Sailors' Word-bk., Grain upset, when a mast suffers by buccles, it is said to have the grain upset.
b. in flesh.
1591A. W. Bk. Cookrye 20 b, Take Venison and cut it as the graine goeth.
c. in coal, stone, etc.: Lamination; stratification; plane of cleavage.
1664Power Exp. Philos. iii. 169 Those Magnetical Atoms that strike..through the Body of every petty Loadstone, accordingly as they are best received by the Grain or Bait of the said Stone. 1703T. N. City & C. Purchaser 254 Common Stones have a cleaving Grain, (as they lie in the Quarry,) and a breaking one; the first..runs parallel with the Horizon; the other is perpendicular to it. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. 194 The grain of the laminated moorstone..being nearly parallel thereto. 1830Herschel Study Nat. Phil. 31 Rock-crystal and Iceland spar..have a grain which glass has not. 1842–76Gwilt Archit. Gloss., Grain, in wood or stone, is the line of direction in which either may be split transversely. 1860J. Prestwich in Phil. Trans. CL. 295 As the gun-flint makers observe, ‘flint has no grain’. It has not in fact the slightest cleavage. 1867W. W. Smyth Coal & Coalmining 145 Banks are..worked across the grain of the coal. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Grain, of coal, the lines of structure or parting parallel with the main gangways.
d. In paper.
1922Paper Trade Jrnl. 15 June 50/2 Grain... In paper the direction of manufacture on the machine, as ‘across the grain’. 1924Ibid. 7 Feb. 56/2 Grain direction, the direction in which the fibers flow on a papermaking machine. 1949Manual of Style (Chicago Univ. Press) (ed. 11) 251 Paper resists bending and folding against the grain. For this reason printers take care to make sure that the grain will run vertically in the completed book, in order that..the book pages will lie flat when the book is opened. 1961J. P. Casey Pulp & Paper (ed. 2) III. xvii. 1258 The grain of paper must be taken into account in measuring all physical properties.
16. fig. (from senses 14 and 15). Quality, nature, temper; inclination, tendency.
(In first quot. other senses are possible: cf. 3 c and 11 fig.)
1641Milton Prel. Episc. (1851) 80 All men would have readily seen what grain the testimony had bin of. 1664Dryden Rival Ladies Ded., To work and bend their stubborn Minds, which go not all after the same Grain. a1677Barrow Serm. Wks. 1716 III. 159 Crossing the Grain of our Nature and Desires. a1715Burnet Own Time (1766) I. 148 The king ought to govern them according to the grain of their own inclinations. 1786Har'st Rig 61 The master hardly can restrain Their thrawart humour and cross grain. 1866Alger Solit. Nat. & Man iv. 329 He was separated from ordinary persons in grain and habits. 1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. ii. xvi. 129 Hatred of innocent human obstacles was a form of moral stupidity not in Deronda's grain. 1884Pall Mall G. 11 Sept. 3/1 Mr. Broadhurst is a representative English workman of the best grain.
b. Phr. against (also, contrary to) the grain: contrary to one's disposition or inclination; esp. in to go against the grain.
1650T. Hubbert Pill Formality 65 O this goes against the grain, this cannot be indured. a1659Osborn Characters, etc. (1673) 630 To whom in all things you are bound to obey, though contrary to the grain of Prudence it self. 1691–1701Norris Ideal World ii. xii. (1704) 514 That which seems..more against the grain of common prejudice. 1694Dryden Love Triumph. v. Wks. (1884) VIII. 462 It goes against the grain to give it them. 1778H. Laurens in Sparks Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853) II. 119 Such provision will be against the grain of the people. 1826Scott Jrnl. 12 July, I have dawdled and written letters sorely against the grain all day. 1832Tennyson ‘Love thou thy land’ 22 Cut Prejudice against the grain. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xliv. (1889) 421, I followed your advice at last, though it went against the grain uncommonly. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 91 The mind..unlike the body, must not be made to work against the grain. 1886Stubbs Lect. Study Hist. Pref. 5 The lectures were written under the pressure of statutory compulsion, and against the grain.
17. pl. A preparation used in ‘graining’ leather: = grainer2 1 a. (In recent Dicts.)
V. attrib. and Comb.
18. General relations:
a. simple attrib., as (sense 3) grain-barge, grain-barn, grain-bin, grain-boat, grain-box, grain-cart, grain-chamber, grain-country, grain-crop, grain-department, grain-farm, grain-field, grain-food, grain-land, grain-market, grain-merchant, grain-mill, grain-port, grain-room, grain-sack, grain-ship, grain-trade; (sense 4 b) grain-tub (in quot. fig.); (sense 7 e) grain-boundary, grain-size; (sense 8) grain-weight; (sense 10 c) grain-dyer, grain dyeing; (sense 15) grain-ways adv.b. objective, as (sense 3) grain-carrier, grain-crusher, grain-dealer, grain-divider, grain-dryer, grain-farmer, grain-grower, grain-huller, grain-rubber, grain-scourer, grain-separator; grain-carrying, grain-grinding, grain-growing, vbl. ns.; grain-carrying, grain-cutting, grain-eating, grain-growing, grain-raising ppl. adjs.c. instrumental, as (sense 3) grain-fed, grain-laden adjs.
1902S. E. White Blazed Trail xxix. 204 They were locked through after some delay on account of the *grain barges from Duluth.
1844Knickerbocker XXIII. 439 Let us drop into the ‘*grain-barn’. 1879B. F. Taylor Summer-Savory xiii. 112 The pulpit, with the architecture of a *grain-bin and two stories high. 1891Kipling Light that Failed 122 An Odessa *grain-boat. 1920Jrnl. Inst. Metals XXIII. 462 This is rather deep etching, but the *grain boundaries were revealed better than by light etching. 1957D. McLean Grain Boundaries in Metals i. 1 A grain boundary in a piece of metal is the boundary separating two crystals (or ‘grains’) that differ either in crystallographic orientation, composition, or dimensions of the crystal lattice, or in two or all of these properties.
1872Rep. Vermont Board Agric. I. 312 A convenient *grain-box and root-cellar are great aids.
1908E. Noble (title) The *grain carriers.
1892Pall Mall G. 9 May 7/1 The Russian *grain-carrying trade. 1901Daily Chron. 19 Aug. 5/7 Twenty-nine grain-carrying ships, chartered for European ports.
1709Brit. Apollo II. No. 70. 3/1 A plain Cart, By Wights ycleped call'd a *Grain-Cart.
1887H. H. Jackson Between Whiles i. 26 A winding staircase outside led to what had been the *grain-chamber.
1799J. Robertson Agric. Perth 347 Oats and barley were consequently poured down from the Highlands of Perthshire in great quantities towards those provinces of the county that are called *grain-countries.
1822J. Laing Voy. Spitzbergen 34 The *grain crop consists of a small kind of black or grey oats, and a species of barley.
1850Rep. U.S. Comm. Patents, Agric. 1849 113 Their newly invented horse⁓powers..their seed sowers and *grain-crushers..do much to expedite the labors of the farm. 1850Mary Wedlake's Priced List Farming Implements 16 (heading) A General Grain Crusher, Crushing the smallest Pulse and the largest: viz., Lentils and Beans.
1838H. W. Ellsworth Valley Upper Wabash v. 47, I have a plan..to introduce the mowing and *grain-cutting machine into this state.
1840C. Mathews Politicians 5 To the invading *grain-dealer, the voracious statesman sends a furious inspector. 1868Rep. Iowa Agric. Soc. 1867 158 Near the river a portion [of the corn crop is] sold to grain-dealers where it finds a market at St. Louis.
1800Asiat. Ann. Reg. IV. 56/2 The *grain department was placed under his charge.
1893Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. Dec. 716 The *grain dividers are secured to the steel framing in a very substantial manner.
1884Cassell's Fam. Mag. Feb. 189/1 Large *grain-dryers..weighing from three to four tons each.
1791Hamilton Berthollet's Dyeing i. ii. iv. I. 192, I wish..that the distinction between *grain and other dyers was abolished.
1714Mandeville Fab. Bees (1733) II. 153 In some of these arts, especially *grain or scarlet-dying, there are processes really astonishing.
1842A. Combe Physiol. Digestion (ed. 4) 68 The granivorous or *grain-eating birds.
1799J. Robertson Agric. Perth 400 In *grain-farms..the body of the soil must be meliorated before it can be rendered productive.
1804J. Barrow Trav. S. Afr. II. vi. 386 The population of this colony may be reduced into four classes... 3. *Grain-farmers. 1959Cape Times 2 July 2/8 Grain farmers are now anxiously looking out for rain for their young crops.
c1804Mrs. Sherwood Life xvii. (1847) 289 A *grain-fed sheep had been killed in the morning.
1817–18Cobbett Resid. Amer. (1822) 96 My hay-fields and *grain-fields.
1845F. Douglass Life (1846) 12 The black⁓smithing, cartwrighting, coopering..and *grain-grinding, were all performed by the slaves. 1863D. G. Mitchell My Farm 131 A professed *grain-grower. 1927Peake & Fleure Peasants & Potters 22 Grain is a more sustaining diet than whelks and limpets, and the grain-growers had more time and more energy to improve the amenities of their surroundings. 1963Times 13 Mar. 10/7 Stalin accused some of the ‘respected grain-growers’ of staging a sit-down strike and leaving workers and the Red Army without bread.
1813Niles' Weekly Register IV. 385/2 The public vigilance and scorn must aid the legal authorities; and so it will, in the *grain-growing states. 1858J. A. Warder Hedges & Evergreens i. x. 144 Just as..grain-growing prevails, we find the fences are legally considered inclosures for the cattle, or barriers against them. 1868Rep. Iowa Agric. Soc. 1867 148 The enemies to grain-growing are numerous. 1872W. R. Greg Enigmas ii. 83 The average yield of the splendid grain-growing provinces in America.
1850Rep. U.S. Comm. Patents 1849 302 What I claim..is covering..*grain hullers with vulcanized India rubber.
1852C. W. H[oskins] Talpa 112 A *grain-laden Dutchman clearing out of harbour.
1817S. R. Brown Western Gaz. 84 It proves to be excellent *grain land. 1938Times Lit. Suppl. 19 Mar. 181/1 A distinction between grainland, paying tax or rent in kind, and vine-, orchard- and garden-land, paying money-dues.
1871Schele de Vere Americanisms (1872) 481 Grain is used in America as corn is in England,..the papers quote therefore daily an account of the *Grain Market.
1838Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 225 The *grain-merchants want to hoard it. 1870J. K. Medbery Men & Myst. Wall St. 335 All our great grain-merchants..do the same.
1867H. Latham Black & White 27 Ellicott..dammed up the Patapsco..and built *grain-mills there.
1891Times 26 Oct. 4/4 From..the Pacific *grain ports..chartering has been almost at a standstill.
1893Gunter Miss Dividends 187 Great *grain-raising plains.
1873J. G. Beadle Undevel. West xxv. 524 The other officials and employes were..in charge of [the] *grain room.
1889Jrnl. Derbysh. Archæol. Soc. XI. 40 Found associated with..*grain-rubbers.
1868Rep. Iowa Agric. Soc. 1867 420 We are not behind the rest of the world in inventive skill, for we have invented..Kent's *grain scourer.
1883E. Ingersoll in Harper's Mag. June 75/2 It is fed down into the *grain separators..which sift out the chaff.
1928L. P. Smith Words & Idioms 12 The basket..hoisted by the Egyptian *grainships as an ensign. 1935Discovery Feb. 61/2 These photographs give a good idea of life on a grain ship.
1912Sexton & Primrose Outl. Metallurgy Iron & Steel (ed. 2) xliv. 545 The *grain⁓size is reduced to very small dimensions by each pass through the rolls, or by each blow of the hammer. 1956W. Edwards in D. L. Linton Sheffield 13 Inferior thickness and grain-size of sandstones. 1958F. E. Zeuner Dating Past (ed. 4) 21 Varves..composed of sand below (grain-size chiefly 1·0–0·1 mm.) and silty clay in their upper portion (grain-size under 0·1 mm., chiefly 0·1–0·01 mm.). 1966D. G. Brandon Mod. Techniques Metallogr. 246 Etched grain boundaries are commonly 1µm or so in width at the low magnifications usually used in grain-size analysis.
1889Kansas Times & Star 22 June, The new Missouri inspection law..will seriously hurt the *grain trade here.
1661K. W. Conf. Charac. (1860) 63 They are resolved to..chock and stifle it in the *graintub of resistance.
1811Self Instructor 519 Holding it *grainways to the light.
1706Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v., A *Grain-weight of Gold-Bullion is worth two Pence. 1862H. Spencer First Princ. ii. vi. §61 (1875) 192 The portion of metal called a grain-weight.
19. Special comb.: grain-bag, lit., a bag for holding corn; humorously, a corn-dealer; grain-block, an over-accumulation of grain from the lack of transport; grain-colour, (a) scarlet dye; (b) a fast colour; also a cloth dyed with this; grain-cradle = cradle n. 7 (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875); grain-cut a. (Shipbuilding), of timber, cut athwart the grain (see quot.); grain-elevator (see elevator 3 a, b); grain-founder = grain-sick; grain-gold, † (a) gold dust; (b) gold formed into grains by heat after ‘parting’; grain growth, an increase in the average grain size of a metal; grain-intoxication, that arising from the use of musty grain; grain-leather, leather dressed with the ‘grain-side’ outwards; grain-moth, a moth (esp. Tinea granella) whose larvæ devour grain in storehouses; grain-oriented a., (of steel) having had the grains oriented predominantly in one direction in order to modify the magnetic properties; grain-poisoning, see grain-intoxication; grain-process, a process in photographic engraving in which a granular texture is given to the plate; grain roll, an iron roller made by casting the metal in sand; grain-sick, a disease in cattle, consisting of an excessive distension of the rumen with food; grain-side, the side of a skin on which the hair grew, opposed to flesh-side; grain-soap, -stone (see quots.); grain tin (see tin); grain-tree Her., an imaginary plant bearing kermes grains (see quot.); grain-weevil, a small weevil which injures stored grain; grain-whisky (see quot.).
1890R. Kipling in Fortn. Rev. XLVII. 171 A son of some *grain-bag sat with me at meat. 1899Academy 11 Feb. 184/1 Blankets, grain-bags, and all-wool coats were woven everywhere.
1891Pall Mall G. 11 Nov. 6/3 It will be impossible to avoid a *grain block this year.
1632Sherwood s.v., *Graine-colour, or in graine, teinct en grain. 1647S. Clarke Looking Glasse (1657) 25 True grace is not like a slight staine, but a durable die, and grain-colour which can never be washed out. 1709Lond. Gaz. No. 4540/6 The best broad Italian colour'd Mantua's at 6s. 9d. per Yard, and grain Colours in proportion. 1778Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. Stroud, Famous for dying scarlet broad cloth, and for all other grain colours.
182418th Congress 1 Sess. H.R. Doc. No. 25, 7 Improvement in *grain cradle [patented March 24, 1823, by] Isaac Babcock. 1845Cultivator New Ser. III. 17 My method is to..cut with a grain cradle previous to the first frost. 1897Sears, Roebuck Catal. 50/3 Morgan Grain Cradle, 4 fingers, grape vine pattern, wood brace, ring fastening, silver steel scythe. 1923J. H. Cook 50 Yrs. Old Frontier 3 Sturdy sons of the forest, they could swing the scythe or the grain-cradle from sunup to sundown.
1830Hedderwick Nav. Arch. 113 *Grain-cut, is when a timber is formed from a straight piece of wood, so that the direction of the fibre does not follow the curve of the timber.
1852L. B. MacKinnon Atlantic & Transatlantic Sketches I. 57 To accelerate the introduction of the cargo, a *grain-elevator was employed. This novel machine pumped the grain from barges,..in a continuous stream into the ship's hold... It was..accurately measured in the operation. 1873‘Mark Twain’ & Warner Gilded Age xxii. 203 Pictures of wharves, crowded with steam boats, and of huge grain elevators on the bank. 1905Macm. Mag. Nov. 47 The wheat..is warehoused ready for shipment in grain-elevators, which are large rectangular buildings of great height, consisting of vertical bins, some of which are a hundred feet in depth. 1926Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 3 Jan. 1/2 Chief of the commercial buildings contemplated is the proposed new grain elevator of the Panama-Pacific Grain Terminals Company. 1967Canadian Ann. Rev. 1966 283 Among the buildings deferred were a large grain elevator in Prince Rupert and several proposed government buildings in Ottawa.
1890Billings Nat. Med. Dict., *Grain-founder or Grain-sick.
1695Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth iv. 222 'Tis by this means [Rain] chiefly that the *Grain-Gold, upon all the Golden Coast..in Guinea, is displayed. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 766 It [the parted gold after being made red-hot] is then called Grain Gold. 1850W. Colton Deck & Port xiv. 397 Each has a bag of grain-gold in his hand, which he must double or lose.
1928Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. CXVII. 920 *Grain growth started at the surfaces of the samples by small grains of iron absorbing the diffusing metal, and extended by migration of grain boundaries in the direction of the diffusing force.
1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 792 Rare..are the *grain intoxications in our own country.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Grain-leather, a name for dressed horse⁓hides. 1885Watt Leather Manuf. xxvii. 341 Leather which has to be blackened on the flesh side is differently treated to grain leather.
1842T. W. Harris Insects Injur. Veget. 363 The European *grain-moth (Tinea granella), in its perfected state, is a winged insect. 1855Cycl. Agric. (ed. Morton) II. 989 Tinea granella (the little Grain or Corn Moth). 1932Metcalf & Flint Fund. Insect Life viii. 273 Among the most destructive and best-known species [of Gelechiidæ] are the pink bollworm.., the Angoumois grain moth. 1967S. O. Nelson in Kilgore & Doutt Pest Control iii. 107 The Angoumois grain moth and the lesser grain borer were more resistant to control by infrared treatment.
1951Trans. Amer. Inst. Electr. Engineers LXX. 840/1 The successful application of *grain oriented strip steel to turbine generators, marks an important new step in the field of power generation. 1960Times 11 Feb. 17/3 A modern plant for the integrated and continuous processing of ultra-low-loss grain-oriented electrical quality sheet and strip.
1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 792 There are three well-known modes of *grain poisoning.
1890W. J. Gordon Foundry xi. 216 There are other *grain processes besides this one.
1904Harbord & Hall Metallurgy of Steel xvi. 291 Such rolls cost from 50 to 100 per cent. more than those cast in sand, and known as ‘*grain rolls’. 1932E. Gregory Metallurgy i. 18 Small amounts of chromium also bring about considerable grain refinement, which is desirable in ordinary ‘grain’ rolls used for roughing purposes.
1834W. Youatt Cattle 436 The disease is recognised in town-dairies by the name of *grain-sick; in some parts of the country it is termed maw-bound. 1848Rural Cycl. II. 486 In mild cases of grainsick.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade s.v. Grain-leather, Goat, seal, and other skins, blacked on the *grain side for women's shoes, &c.
1884Watt Soap-making 11 If the plastic soap be now removed and cooled while the solution is pressed out, it will have become so solid as scarcely to receive an impression from the finger. In this condition it is called *grain soap.
1756P. Browne Jamaica 50 *Grain-stone, the stones of this kind are easily known by their hardness and granulated appearance.
1780Edmondson Heraldry II. Gloss., *Grain-tree..Three sprigs of this tree vert, fructed gu. is the crest of the Dyers' Company.
1848Rural Cycl. II. 487 *Grain-weevil. See Calandra.
1887Daily News 27 Sept. 5/3 *Grain whisky, i.e. made of barley in the grain stage, and not of malt.
▪ II. grain, n.2|greɪn|
Forms: 4–5 greyn(e, 4–6 grane, 4–7 grayn(e, 6–7 graine, 7 grein, 7– grain. Also 9 (pl., sense 5 b) grainse.
[ad. ON. grein division, distinction, branch (Da. green, Sw. gren branch).]
†1. pl. The fork of the body, the lower limbs.
a1300Cursor M. 7449 O bodi gret, o granis lang. 1506Kal. Sheph. 100 Libra [gouerneth] the nauyll, the graynes, the partyes vnder the haunches. 1612Drayton Poly-olb. i. 12 Then Corin up doth take The Giant twixt the grayns.
2. A bough or branch. Also, the fork between two boughs. Obs. exc. dial.
1501Douglas Pal. Hon. i. 26 Not throw the soyl bot muskane treis sproutit..Moch, all waist, widderit, with granis moutit. 1513― æneis iv. viii. 73 The souchand bir quisland amang the granis. 1597–8Bp. Hall Sat., Defiance to Envie 5 Ye prouder pines Whose swelling graines are [etc.]. 1633― Hard Texts 113 His head was caught fast within the graines of a spreading oke. 1652Gaule Magastrom. 315 The Faulconer climing up to fetch down his Hawke, a grayne of a branch got hold of his neck, and there he hung. a1700Ballad in W. McDowall Hist. Dumfries v. (1873) 63 Five [men] he hang'd upon a grain. 1821Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 75 While, underneath their mingling grains, The river silver'd down the plains. 1863Atkinson Danby, Grain,..the branch of a tree.
fig.1513Douglas æneis x. Prol. 65 Thocht thir personis [of the Trinity] be seuerall in thre granis. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. ii. 418 Afor he cuttit of had and snedit al the branches and graines of his superstitione.
3.
†a. An arm (of the sea); a branch or ‘fork’ (of a stream). Obs.
b. A valley branching out of another. dial. (Cf. hope n.2)
a.a1400–50Alexander 2451 A grayne of þe grete see þaim aboute glidis. 1533Bellenden Livy (1822) v. 420 Divide it first with small granis and burnis.
b.1542Newminster Cartul. (Surtees) Introd. 18 Such as inhabyte in one of those hoopes, valyes, or graynes. 1813Hogg Queen's Wake (1871) 56 Astonished mid his open grain [the hind] sees round him pour the sudden rain. 1897Mary Bryce Mem. J. Veitch II. 51 Resisting the appeal of ‘grain’ and ‘hope’ to sit in the narrow room.
†4. ? The blade of a weapon. Obs.
13..K. Alis. 6537 Theo horn [of a rhinoceros] is scharp as a sweord, Bothe by the greyn and at ord. 13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 211 A spetos sparþe..Þe hede of an elnȝerde þe large lenkþe hade, Þe grayn al of grene stele & of golde hewen, þe bit burnyst bryȝt.
5. One of the prongs of a fork. Obs. exc. dial.
1486Nottingham Rec. III. 242 A hoke with iij. greynes to drawe vp stones out of the water. 1606Holland Sueton. 147 With three graines like an ele speare. 1641Hinde J. Bruen xlvi. 147 The two greins of the pikell ran on both sides of his leg, and hurt him not. 1681J. Chetham Angler's Vade-m. i. §3 (1689) 3 A Stick of Hasle, which hath two grains, or is forked. 1861Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XXII. ii. 305 A fork with three grains or prongs. 1864Atkinson Stanton Grange 220, I cut a stick wiv tweea grains. Two grains? What are they? What you quality wad call a fork.
Comb.1674–91Ray S. & E.C. Words, Grain-staff, a quarter-staff with a pair of short tines at the end, which they call grains.
b. Also grane. Freq. as pl. (commonly construed as sing.; formerly also spelt grainse): A fish-spear or harpoon with two or more ‘grains’ or prongs.
1815M. G. Lewis Jrnl. W. Ind. (1834) 43 The five-pronged grainse, which arms his hands, Your scales is doomed to gore. 1851Chambers' Papers for People No. 52. 7 The sailmaker..personated Neptune..and..flourished a three-pronged grainse. 1865Wilcocks Sea-Fisherman 137 The instrument known as the grains consists of five harpoons in one..attached to a stiff light ashen staff with a ball of lead at the top. 1882Worcester Exhib. Catal. iii. 55 Harpoons and shifting grains for whale fishing. 1883Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 195 Eel spears, porpoise and dolphin grains. 1899F. T. Bullen Idylls of Sea xvii. 136 A few good lines and hooks, and a set of granes. 1951R. Campbell Light on Dark Horse xx. 285, I went on fishing, with my spare grane (fish-spear).
▪ III. grain, v.1|greɪn|
Also 4, 6 greine, greyne, 6 graine, grayne.
[f. grain n.1]
1. intr. To produce grain; to yield fruit. Of corn: To form its grains.
1390Gower Conf. II. 155 The lond began to greine, Which whilom hadde be bareine. 1598Florio, Ingranellare, to growe to cornes or little graines, to graine. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies vii. ix. 519 Much Mays (which is their corne) already grained, and in the eare. 1924Glasgow Herald 12 Nov. 16 Arable ground would grain even faster than it does if the dole-fed masses of the great cities, such as Buenos Aires and Sydney, were to be induced to lend a hand at the plough.
fig.1390Gower Conf. II. 389 It floureth but it shall not greine Unto the fruit of rightwisnesse.
†b. pass. To spring (from a seed). Obs.
1387–8T. Usk Test. Love ii. iii. 124 Al mortal folk of one sede arn greyned.
2. a. trans. To cause (sea-water) to deposit grains (of salt). b. To form (sugar, tin, etc.) into grains. c. intr. for refl. Of salt, syrup, etc.: To form into grains.
1706Phil. Trans. XXV. 2265 The Sea-Water being in hot Countries grained in Pans called Salt-Marshes. 1748Ibid. XLV. 363 To make the Salt grain better, or more quickly form into Chrystals. 1791Ann. Reg. 94 The sugar of this tree was capable of being grained. 1791Hamilton Berthollet's Dyeing i. iii. i. I. 236 The tin should be grained by melting it, and pouring it into agitated water. 1865Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. V. 566 The yield of stalk was enormous but the sirup made from it was quite dark, and refused to grain. 1893R. Wells Toffy & Sweets 7 When lump or crystallised sugars are boiled to the heat..of 250 degrees, the sugar is liable to grain, and to turn out a solid mass on the slab. 1906Daily Chron. 31 Oct. 8/5 When the syrup has boiled for fifteen minutes add the chestnuts and stir the mixture until it ‘grains’ and turns white.
3. Brewing. trans. To free from grain; separate the grain from.
1882[see graining vbl. n.1].
4. To dye in grain (see grain n.1 10 c).
1530Palsgr. 574/1 A man may grayne a clothe what colour so ever it be dyed in. 1538Elyot Dict., Coccum, grayne wherwith cloth and silke is grayned. 1862O'Neill Dict. Calico Printing & Dyeing s.v. Kermes, Colours dyed with them [Kermes] were said to be grained, or engrained.
fig.1682Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. 9 Persons lightly dipt, not grain'd in generous honesty, are but pale in goodness, and faint hued in integrity. 1897Sunday Sch. World June 199/1 These vices were not merely grained into the life of the common people.
5. To give a granular surface to. (Cf. grain n.1 12, and grainer1 3.)
1888Daily News 1 June 6/5 For drawing in what is termed the chalk manner the stone is first ‘grained’ by being rubbed against a similar stone, with a little fine white sand between the two. 1891[see grainer1 3].
6. Leather-dressing.
a. To remove the hair from (skins).
b. To soften or raise the grain of (leather, etc.). (Cf. grain n.1 13.)
1530Palsgr. 574/1, I grayne ledder, I make it by tannyng crafte to have a grayne, je besanne. 1841Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) II. xlii. 64 The women are drying meat, and ‘graining’ buffalo robes. 1849G. F. Ruxton Life Far West 15 Than whom no more..expert trapper ever..grained a beaver⁓skin. 1896Daily News 6 Nov. 2/3 A Leather Finisher graining and setting a skin.
7. To paint in imitation of the ‘grain’ of valuable woods or of marble. Also absol.
1798[see grained ppl. a.1]. 1827Whittock Paint. & Glaz. Guide ii. 25 Spread the megilp over one panel at a time, and grain that completely before proceeding to another. 1876T. Hardy Ethelberta (1890) 100, I can..grain in every kind of wood. 1877Paperhanger, Painter, Grainer, etc. 112 Care should be taken in graining maple, not to put too much colour on.
8. trans. To feed with grain. U.S.
1852H. Melville Pierre 40 No one grained his steeds, but himself. 1874Rep. Vermont Board Agric. II. 406 Older sheep should be grained the first of the season, after which they may do without till the first of March. 1949Sat. Even. Post 9 Apr. 132/4 We throwed our drive into a pole-fence pasture, grained Blaze and Blackie's grullo, then went up to the main house.
▪ IV. † grain, v.2
[f. grain n.2]
1. refl. To branch; to divide. Obs. rare.
1664Power Exp. Philos. i. 56 The hairs do grain and fork themselves (when grown too long).
2. trans. To spear (fish) with a grains.
1892Stevenson & Osbourne Wrecker xii. 196 Some⁓thing struck me right through the forearm and stuck there. I put my other hand up, and, by George, it was the grain; the beasts had speared me like a porpoise. ‘Cap'n!’ I cried... ‘They've grained me.’
▪ V. grain
variant of grane v. dial., to throttle. |