grid
/ɡrɪd
/noun
1A framework of spaced bars that are parallel to or cross each other; a grating: the metal grids had been pulled across the foyer...
- The rooftop water tank is supported by a dense grid of 1m thick parallel brick walls penetrated by arches to create a series of 4m wide vaults.
- I look up, and stuck on any available space on the lighting grid are giant nets filled with balloons.
- Some were trying to lift gratings and grids in an attempt to enter the sewers whilst a few attempted to break down the doors leading into the Black Tower.
Synonyms
grating, mesh, gauze, grille, grillwork, lattice, framework, network, criss-cross
2A network of lines that cross each other to form a series of squares or rectangles: a grid of tree-lined streets...
- Mondrian's style of painting involved the use of strictly horizontal or vertical black lines to create a grid of rectangles, some of which were filled in with black or white, or vivid red, blue or yellow.
- Maramba was laid on a rectangular grid of streets and lanes, formerly 15 blocks in all, covering an area of less than one square kilometre.
- A series of 126x68 mm grids were placed over the transparencies.
Synonyms
matrix, network, reticulation, reticulum
technical plexus, decussation, graticule
2.1A grid of regular squares on a map that are marked with numbers or letters to enable a place to be precisely located.These maps and grids will enable planning for operations in the subsequent field season....
- He made another important contribution in using a grid to locate positions of places on the Earth.
- Essential tools include a bird identification field guide, a map of the airfield with a superimposed grid system for locating birds, and a pair of binoculars.
2.2A pattern of lines marking the starting places on a motor-racing track: the 20-year-old didn’t get the best of starts off the grid...
- The officials handed Tom a penalty that meant he would be put back six places on the grid after qualifying at Brands Hatch.
- Maria de Villota was sixth on the starting grid and went off the track in the first lap.
- Juan Pablo Montoya will start from fourth on the grid with his team mate Ralf Schumacher lining up in seventh position.
2.3A field for American football; a gridiron.
3A network of cables or pipes for distributing power, especially high-voltage transmission lines for electricity: the reactor was connected to the grid in 1985...
- Nuclear power plants are connected to electricity grids in more than 30 countries and provide some 17% of the electricity consumed worldwide.
- A major incident here in L.A. could shut down public infrastructure, power grids, food distribution networks, transportation arteries, and the phone lines - just to name a few.
- They also condemn the network of power plants that supply electricity to the grid.
3.1 Computing A number of computers linked together via the Internet so that their combined power may be harnessed to work on difficult problems.This grid links powerful computers in California, Texas, the Midwest and Pennsylvania....
- The greatest advantage is instant communication within the grid, computer to computer and relay to relay.
- Not long ago - just a few years - setting up computer clusters and grids was a rough job.
4 Electronics An electrode placed between the cathode and anode of a thermionic valve or cathode ray tube, serving to control or modulate the flow of electrons.The carbon-platinum replicas were transferred from a finishing water bath onto copper electron microscope grids....
- He put brain cells on an electrode grid, and watched them grow connections between one another.
- Oscillating electric fields applied by grids above and below the plasma can resonantly excite its electrons.
verb [with object] (usually as adjective gridded)
Put into or set out as a grid: a core of gridded streets...
- Lisa Corinne Davis is a New York-based artist who creates mostly gridded works consisting of small increments of painted or drawn imagery, collaged snippets of newspaper or diminutive digital photographs.
- There were 14 works in the show, the smallest measuring 8 by 10 inches, the largest an 8-by - 8-foot gridded diptych.
- In two of the works the surface has been irregularly gridded into a Mondrian-like architectonic structure.
Phrases
off the grid
Origin
Mid 19th century: back-formation from gridiron.
grate from Middle English:
Grate ‘to shred’ is from Old French grater ‘grate, scratch’, of Germanic origin; it is related to German kratzen ‘to scratch’. People have being saying that something grates upon them since the early 17th century. The grate in a fire was originally a general word for ‘a grating’: it comes from Old French, based on Latin cratis ‘hurdle’, also found in griddle (Middle English), grill (mid 17th century), grille (mid 17th century), and grid (mid 19th century).