gridn.
/ɡrɪd/, U.S. /ɡrɪd/ 1.
a. An arrangement of parallel bars with openings between them; a grating.
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the world > space > relative position > fact or condition of being transverse > intersection > [noun] > grating or lattice
latticea1382
trellisa1400
grate1412
trail1485
tresance1510
cradle1561
craticle1657
grillade1727
grating1739
treillage1836
grid1839
gridiron1854
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 585 [article Glass-making] A is the pot, resting upon the arched grid b a, built of fire-bricks, whose apertures are wide enough to let the flames rise freely, and strike the bottom and sides of the vessel.
c1865 J. Wylde Circle of Sci. I. 34/1 Air is admitted through openings or grids in the floor.
1879 Cassell's Techn. Educator (new ed.) IV. 209/2 A circular enclosure formed by a grid of angular iron bars.
1884 Internat. Health Exhib. Official Catal. 27/1 An open earthen~ware channel, which conveys the drainage into a suitable grid placed outside the building.
b. (See quot. 1892.)
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > galvanism, voltaism > voltaic or galvanic battery > [noun] > storage battery > components of
grid1884
lithanode1887
1884 F. Krohn tr. G. Glaser de Cew Magneto- & Dynamo-electr. Machines 122 The red lead paste becomes very firmly gripped by the surrounding grid-work.
1892 T. O'C. Sloane Standard Electr. Dict. (1893) 281 Grid, a lead plate perforated or ridged for use in a storage battery as the supporter of the active materials and in part as contributing thereto from its own substance.
1964 G. Smith Storage Batteries ii. 13 A grid consists of an outer frame with take-off lug and a central mesh or lattice of vertical and horizontal ribs.
1968 R. H. Bacon Car x. 136 If the battery is old, or subjected to repeated complete discharge and charge, the paste may fall away from the grid.
Thesaurus »
Categories »
c. Mining. = griddle n. 3 (Funk's Stand. Dict.)
2. = gridiron n. 1.
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > equipment for food preparation > cooking vessel or pot > [noun] > gridiron
roasting-ironc1350
roast-iron1354
brandiron1381
gridiron1382
broiler1393
griddlea1425
branderc1450
grate-iron1577
chaplet1664
grill1685
grid1875
parrilla1964
parrillada1975
robata1975
charbroiler1982
1875 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. [‘The Silver Grid’ appears as the name of several restaurants in London.]
3. Nautical. = gridiron n. 3b.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > shipbuilding and repairing > [noun] > slip on which ships built or repaired > framework on which vessel rests
stocks1422
trestle1612
cradle1627
boat cradle1829
gridiron1846
skid1856
grid1867
crib1883
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk.
1879 Engineering 7 Mar. 203/1 At high water the vessel is brought over the grid, and as soon as she is shored up the lifting commences.
4. Theatre. = gridiron n. 3c (Funk's Stand. Dict.)
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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > a theatre > stage > [noun] > parts above stage
shadow1600
fly1805
rigging loft1851
gridiron-floor1881
gridiron1886
fly-gallery1888
grid1927
1927 Stage 27 Oct. 17/6 Ask him [sc. the young actor] questions about the grid, the apron,..and he will be at sea.
1933 P. Godfrey Back-stage iv. 43 Seventy feet above the stage-level is the grid from which the scenery is flown.
1959 A. S. Gillette Stage Scenery vii. 171 Hoisting cables run from the winches to dollies that may be shifted to any position on the grid.
5. Originally: a wire gauze or helix or a perforated plate between the filament and the anode of a thermionic valve, forming a third electrode to which a voltage can be applied to control or modulate the flow of electrons from the filament. Later extended to any electrode in a valve, gas discharge tube, or similar device, having one or more apertures for the passage of electrons or ions; control grid n. one that serves as a control electrode. Cf. screen grid n., suppressor grid.
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > electronic devices or components > thermionic valve > [noun] > grid
grid1907
screen1914
screened grid1927
screen grid1927
suppressor grid1931
suppressor1932
1907 Electr. World 30 Nov. 1034/1 In his talk, Dr. De Forest stated that many types of receivers are suitable for wireless Telephone work... However, the Audion receiver, especially in its latest form in which the antenna is joined to an isolated grid interposed between a tantalum filament and a platinum wing, gives perfect ‘articulation’.
1919 R. Stanley Text-bk. Wireless Telegr. (new ed.) II. xi. 208 The output is controlled by the control grid, which is between the filament and the heavier grid anode beyond.
1923 E. W. Marchant Radio Telegr. iv. 52 When a grid is introduced into the valve, it may be used, not merely for rectifying signals.., but..for amplifying or increasing the strength of a signal.
1947 D. G. Fink Radar Engin. xi. 538 The potential on the control electrode (grid) controls the brightness of the spot.
1950 J. C. Slater Microwave Electronics xi. 279 For a relatively short accelerator, there may be few enough grids so that a considerable fraction of the ion beam penetrates all the grids.
1950 J. F. Rider & F. D. Uslan Encycl. Cathode-Ray Oscilloscopes v. 86/1 Surrounding the cathode [of the electron gun] is a cylinder G which has a baffle containing a tiny aperture at its center... The baffle with its aperture is the actual control grid.
1959 Chambers's Encycl. XIV. 241/1 The two control grids in a frequency changer are usually the first and third from the cathode, the other grids being screens, accelerators and suppressors.
6.
a. A network of lines, esp. two series of regularly spaced lines crossing one another at right angles; spec. one provided on a map as a means of specifying the location of places and objects. Also grid finder, grid navigation, grid reference, grid sheet, grid system.
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the world > the earth > earth sciences > geography > map-making > map > [noun] > line on map > grid
map square1917
grid1918
1918 in Geogr. Jrnl. (1919) 53 33 Doubtless the German was amused at the conservative Briton, who at first preferred to use a ‘grid’ of squares 1000 yards a side.
1922 Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 623/1 For the use of large scale maps in trench warfare..it must be possible to read off at sight the coördinates of any desired point from a ‘grid’ or network of lines printed on the map... For ease and accuracy of reference the ‘grid’ should be in squares.
1924 Times Trade & Engin. Suppl. 29 Nov. 241 Simplicity of reference is ensured by the use of a novel transparent grid sheet, ruled in squares and numbered to correspond with the grid numbers given in the Gazetteer. The use of this grid sheet enables the most obscure place to be found on the map in a moment.
1925 C. F. Close & H. St. J. L. Winterbotham Text Bk. Topogr. & Geogr. Surv. (ed. 3) 135 Some form of reference grid was found necessary by all combatants in the late war.
1925 C. F. Close & H. St. J. L. Winterbotham Text Bk. Topogr. & Geogr. Surv. (ed. 3) 136 To overprint his available maps with the appropriate grid.
1930 G. R. de Beer Embryol. & Evol. iv. 29 The comparison of one adult form with another can be made very instructive by inscribing the shape of one form on a grid-system of Cartesian co-ordinates.
1930 G. R. de Beer Embryol. & Evol. iv. 30 By a harmonious transformation of the grid, the skull of Hyracotherium can be distorted and made to resemble that of the horse.
1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 10 Sept. 674/4 This grid, which has the appearance of a transparent chessboard, can be made to appear at the same height as any object in the stereoscope picture.
1932 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 36 518 This template, often known as the grid finder, is placed on the photograph so that the line representing the apparent horizon coincides with the apparent horizon on the photograph.
1944 Geogr. Rev. 34 436 (title) Grid Navigation by Samuel Herrick.
1944 Geogr. Rev. 34 436 The introduction of a rectangular grid system and what is hereafter described as ‘grid variation’ makes it possible to navigate a straight line on any conformal..chart.
1946 R. J. C. Atkinson Field Archaeol. ii. 46 The interrupted grid system..enables a much larger area to be searched in a given time.
1954 M. Beresford Lost Villages Eng. viii. 270 Grid-references to the 1-inch Ordnance maps.
1958 Listener 13 Nov. 779/1 The first [major development in polar navigation] is the substitution of a rectangular ‘grid’ for the conventional graticule of parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude which converge at the Poles. This simple technique, which has been extensively developed since the war, is generally called ‘grid navigation’.
1963 E. S. Wood Collins Field Guide Archaeol. iv. i. 306 A card index should be kept; one card for each find or site, showing details,..location, with grid reference.
1966 H. Williamson Methods Bk. Design (ed. 2) xiii. 211 The photographer places in the camera..a glass screen ruled with a rectangular grid of fine diagonal lines.
1971 D. Potter Brit. Elizabethan Stamps xiv. 148 This tissue is first exposed behind a fine grid of horizontal and vertical lines.
b. Building. (See quot. 1935.) Also grid plan.
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1935 Archit. Rev. 77 65 The plan of the building conforms to a grid composed of rectangles of this proportion, measuring 2 ft. by 2 ft. 10 ins.
1964 J. S. Scott Dict. Building 153 Grid plan, a plan in which setting-out lines called grid lines coincide with the most important walls and other building components. Prefabricated buildings are usually designed to fit a grid plan.
c. Motor Racing. A pattern of lines painted on the track at the starting-point to indicate the position in which the cars are to line up (see also quot. 1971).
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > racing with vehicles > motor racing > [noun] > course or track > starting grid
starting grid1935
grid1951
1951 C. A. N. May Formula 3 x. 124 Imagine the feelings of young Jeremy Fry when..the engine stalled..and the white car was left on the grid.
1957 S. Moss In Track of Speed xiii. 161 On the first line of the starting grid were Fangio and myself on Mercedes and Ascari on a Lancia.
1966 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. 1964 xlii. 5 Grid, area behind the starting line, usually painted in checked pattern.
1970 Times 8 May 9/2 The controversial qualifying race..would be to decide who should fill the last six places on the grid.
1970 Times 8 May 9/2 The qualifying race will not take place and the grid will be decided on the fastest practice time.
1971 Observer 1 Aug. 19/3 The grid means the pattern of cars when stationary at the start—perhaps three cars on the first row of the grid, two on the second, and so on, the positions being allotted according to the best time you registered in the practice laps.
d. Architecture. (See quots.) Also grid layout, grid plan, grid system. Cf. gridiron n. 3d.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > [noun] > town-planning or development > lay-out
gridiron1883
layout1888
grid1954
1954 Ann. Reg. 1953 104 The Punjab's new capital at Chandigarh..was built on a grid system which separated fast traffic from slow and divided the city into 25 rectangular sectors.
1958 Listener 29 Nov. 826/1 The town is laid out on a grid plan.
1958 Listener 29 Nov. 826/1 In spite of the imposed colonial grid, the landscaping tradition of the old country reasserts itself successfully.
1959 Chambers's Encycl. XIII. 703/2 Wherever land is approximately flat there has been a tendency to use the grid layout, by which a town is divided into ‘blocks’ of approximately equal size by streets at right-angles to each other.
1959 Listener 26 Mar. 542/2 He accepts, as indeed any architect today must accept, the rectangularities, the grid, the engineering forms, the big areas of glass that, for most people, are modern architecture.
1969 Listener 23 Jan. 98/1 Some of the factors blighting American cities (their ruthless grid-plan expansion, [etc.]).
e. Phonetics. ‘A diagrammatic representation of approximate tongue-positions of average English vowels compared with those of cardinal vowels’ (Daniel Jones).
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the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > [noun] > instruments or diagrams
phthongometer1837
logograph1879
glossograph1883
palate-myograph1884
palatogram1902
tongue-curve1902
kymograph1918
voiceprint1918
vowel diagram1932
kymogram1934
speech stretcher1948
word-palatogram1948
recognizer1949
phonolaryngoscope1953
speech recognizer1953
grid1961
voiceprinter1966
1961 Amer. Speech 36 219 Daniel Jones's cardinal vowel grid is proposed as a more useful method of specifying vowel sounds in terms of auditory reference points.
1964 E. Palmer tr. A. Martinet Elements Gen. Linguistics iii. 66 We can..attempt to represent schematically the proportions of the system, by arranging in a ‘grid’ the sets of phonemes characterized by the same relevant feature.
7. A bicycle. slang.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicle propelled by feet > [noun] > cycle > bicycle
bicycle1868
steed1877
bike1880
jigger1897
push-cycle1905
push bicycle1906
pushbike1910
grid1922
mangle1941
recumbent1968
MTB1988
1922 D. H. Lawrence England my England 111 Oh, well! I wheel the grid, do I?
1943 Coast to Coast 1942 71 ‘I'll walk and wheel the bike, and if my dad's home he can drive out in the car to meet me.’ ‘Gosh, no!’ you said. ‘Here, you go on, on my grid, an' I'll do the walking.’
8.
a. A network of high-voltage transmission lines and connections that supply electricity from a number of generating stations to various distribution centres in a country or a region, so that no consumer is dependent on a single station.
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > electrical power, electricity > distribution system > [noun]
network1883
grid1926
national grid1930
1926 Public Opinion 3 Apr. 331/2 The electrical ‘grid’ is absolutely necessary in the future just as our railway network has been in the past.
1930 Times Financial Rev. 11 Feb. p. xxxiii/1 With transforming stations at the points most suitable for enabling the pool of electricity provided by the ‘Grid’ to be tapped for distribution throughout the area.
1955 Times 5 July p. ii/3 Water for the mill will be drawn from the Tarawera River at the rate of 10,000,000 gallons a day, while hydro-electric power will be supplied by the national grid.
1955 Oxf. Junior Encycl. VIII. 191 Engineers in charge of the grid system meet this problem of changing demand by running the most efficient power stations continuously and by switching in the less efficient smaller stations as the demand increases.
1971 Sci. Amer. Sept. 47/3 Electric power can be transmitted as needed over grids of continental size.
b. Used of any network that serves a similar purpose for other services.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > conveyor > [noun] > conduit, channel, or tube > pipe > system or arrangement of
piping1729
pipework1849
pipeline1856
reticulation1859
ring main1868
plumbinga1929
grid1943
society > occupation and work > equipment > conveyor > [noun] > conduit, channel, or tube > pipe > system or arrangement of > for gas spec.
gas pipe1807
main1808
grid1943
1943 Times 8 Dec. 5/5 Should not our leading water engineers be called upon by the Ministry of Reconstruction to report and prepare comprehensive plans for a national grid?
1960 Economist 15 Oct. 271/3 Total gasification (linked with a national high-pressure grid supplying industry direct and local systems with lean gas for enrichment to town gas), rather than carbonisation, offers the main opportunity.
1970 Sci. Jrnl. Aug. 82/1 [In Holland] a little over 80 per cent of the 13 million inhabitants..are connected to the gasgrid.
9. A strong open framework of iron fixed to the back of a motor car to hold luggage.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > parts and equipment of motor vehicles > [noun] > luggage rack
grid1928
roof-rack1929
ski carrier1965
ski rack1968
1928 Evening News 24 July 4/2 It can be carried on either luggage grid or running board.
1928 Daily Mail 25 July 1/5 All straps, loops, etc., which are necessary to fit to the grid of a car.
10. The field on which American football is played; hence loosely, American football. Also attributive. Cf. gridiron n. 3e.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > American football > [noun]
American football1879
football1881
gridiron1896
grid1928
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > American football > [noun] > scoring > field of play
gridiron1896
grid1928
1928 Chicago Tribune 13 Dec. 25/8 (headline) Law..to lead Irish on Grid in 1929.
1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 15 Jan. 17/4 It was a satisfying triumph for the aging Packers, who showed their grid obituaries had been written prematurely.
1970 New Yorker 3 Oct. 34/1 You grid fans are just going to have to buckle down... Anybody who can't straighten out a plain old two-league, six-division distribution..probably isn't in shape.
11. Television. In full grid receiver: see quots.
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1929 H. H. Sheldon & E. N. Grisewood Television 147 The operation of the large grid receiver is controlled by a 2500 wire distributor.
1929 H. H. Sheldon & E. N. Grisewood Television 148 This large grid, formed by a continuous neon tube bent back and forth, is the electro-optical element of the receiving equipment used by the Bell Laboratories for large audiences.
1930 Daily Express 30 July 6/2 By dividing the grid-vanes and providing separate plates for the upper and lower grid-vanes.
Compounds
C1. General attributive. (Usually in the sense control grid).
grid battery n.
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1924 Harmsworth's Wireless Encycl. II. 1053/2 The grid battery plays an important part in the operation of power-amplifying valves.
grid condenser n.
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1916 Electrician 76 800/1 The radio frequency beats are then rectified by the audion to charge the grid and the grid condenser, and this charge varies the electron current to produce an amplifying action on the current in the telephones.
1923 Glasgow Herald 29 Jan. 14 The occasional benefit to be derived from a change of gridleaks and grid condensers.
1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 390/1 Grid condenser, a condenser connected between the grid and the cathode of a thermionic valve.
grid potential n.
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1916 Electrician 76 801/1 A point will finally be reached where the grid potential is sufficiently reduced to allow the wing current to flow.
grid potentiometer n.
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1926 S. O. Pearson Dict. Wireless Terms Grid potentiometer, a potentiometer arranged to enable the grid potential or grid bias to be critically adjusted.
grid voltage n.
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1918 Wireless World June 142 Up to the saturation currents for the gas space within the bulb, the change in plate current is approximately proportional to the grid voltage.
C2.
grid bias n. a steady, usually negative, voltage applied to the control grid of a valve on which the signal voltage is superimposed; hence, the steady potential difference between the control gird and the cathode in the absence of a signal.
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1926 S. O. Pearson Dict. Wireless Terms Grid bias..is the number of volts by which the potential of the grid is above or below that of the negative end of the filament.
1928 Morning Post 26 Jan. 13/4 When there are two stages of low frequency amplification a grid bias of negative 1½ volts is ample.
1968 Listener 20 June 800/3 There was endless trouble with grid-biases, valves, condensers, speakers.
grid circuit n. the circuit connected between the grid and the cathode of a valve.
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > electronic phenomena > electronic circuit > [noun] > valve circuits
grid circuit1916
reaction circuit1919
tank circuit1928
cascode1939
cathode follower1939
1916 Electrician 76 798/2 Oscillations in the grid circuit set up oscillations of similar character in the wing circuit of the audion.
1937 Discovery Feb. 54/1 A simple spherical electrode is connected with the grid circuit of a valve oscillator.
grid control n. control of the anode current, esp. the discharge in a gas discharge tube, by means of the grid voltage.
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > electronic devices or components > thermionic valve > [noun] > grid > control by grid
grid control1921
1921 L. B. Turner Wireless Telegr. vi. 91 (heading) Grid control over anode circuit.
1952 W. G. Dow Fund. Engin. Electronics (ed. 2) xviii. 543 (heading) Grid control of current conduction in a thyratron.
grid-controlled adj.
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1939 H. J. Reich Theory & Applic. Electron Tubes xi. 394 The time required for complete breakdown of grid-controlled arc tubes is of the order of a few microseconds.
1962 J. H. Simpson & R. S. Richards Physical Princ. Junction Transistors viii. 188 These devices show promise as solid state ‘thyratrons’... They have the advantage over grid-controlled gas-tube rectifiers that they can be turned off more readily.
grid current n. the current flowing to the grid from outside the valve.
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > electronic devices or components > thermionic valve > [noun] > grid > current of
grid current1919
screen current1933
1919 Radio Rev. Dec. 144 The circuit..will be called the grid circuit, and the current flowing in it the grid current.
1948 J. W. Gray in Valley & Wallman Vacuum Tube Amplifiers xi. 419 Positive grid current, caused by electrons flowing to the grid from the cathode, is much greater and much less erratic than the negative grid current.
1971 Physics Bull. Feb. 108/2 Conventional electrometer tubes have a minimum guaranteed grid current in the region of 10−15 A, somewhat large for a number of modern requirements.
grid-dip meter n. a calibrated valve oscillator used as a frequency meter, resonance of the tank circuit of the oscillator with the resonant circuit under test being indicated by a drop in the grid current of the valve.
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1959 K. Henney Radio Engin. Handbk. (ed. 5) xiv. 11 Grid-dip meters... The grid current of an oscillator will ‘dip’ slightly as the wavemeter is tuned through the operating frequency.
1962 J. H. Simpson & R. S. Richards Physical Princ. Junction Transistors xiv. 355 It is possible to measure the input and output impedances [of the transistor] in such a case with the aid of a signal generator and a grid-dip meter.
grid-dip oscillator n. see grid-dip meter n.
grid leak n. (also grid leak resistance) a high resistance connected between the grid and the cathode of a valve by which any excess charge on the grid can escape.
ΚΠ
1919 Radio Rev. Nov. 82 R is a large resistance which acts as a grid leak, and should be chosen so as to keep the grids at a voltage found advantageous by trial.
1923 Glasgow Herald 29 Jan. 14 The occasional benefit to be derived from a change of gridleaks and grid condensers.
1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. (rev. ed.) II. 184/1 There is always a small grid current flowing through the grid-leak resistor when cathode or fixed bias is used.
grid modulation n. modulation in which the modulating signal is applied to the grid of a valve in which the carrier is present.
ΚΠ
1924 F. H. Haynes Amateur's Bk. Wireless Circuits (ed. 2) 21 In another system of grid modulation the microphone secondary is connected between the grid itself and the L.T. minus, with the grid condenser in the lead to the grid coil and this time not fitted with a leak.
1967 R. L. Shrader Electronic Communication (ed. 2) xvii. 348 Low audio power requirement is one of the advantages of grid modulation.
Derivatives
grid v. transitive to cook on a gridiron.
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > cooking > cook [verb (transitive)] > grill or broil
broilc1386
carbonado1610
carbonate1629
carbonade1634
grill1668
grillade1727
grid1884
pan-broil1901
braai1959
charbroil1971
1884 J. Bull's Neighbour xii. 90 Where is the Frenchwoman..who can cook a chop, grid a steak, [etc.]?
grid-like adj.
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1950 Mind 59 302 The description..both suggests a kind of permanent grid-like world framework and denies it.
Draft additions June 2012
grid computing n. Computing the technique or practice of using numerous widely separated computers (esp. ones linked via the internet) to carry out large computational tasks by sharing processing power, typically for the purposes of scientific research.
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1998 Proc. 5th ACM Conf. Comp. & Comm. Security 84 This example illustrated many of the distinctive characteristics of the grid computing environment.
2000 N.Y. Times (Electronic ed.) 28 Sept. Grid computing..helped solve a 32-year-old mathematical challenge that was beyond the power of a single computer.
2011 ReadWriteWeb (Nexis) 21 Feb. He muses on the idea of using mobile phones for grid computing, a la SETI@home, to create massive distributed supercomputers for processing all of this data.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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