grind
verb /ɡraɪnd/
/ɡraɪnd/
Verb Forms
Idioms Phrasal Verbs| present simple I / you / we / they grind | /ɡraɪnd/ /ɡraɪnd/ |
| he / she / it grinds | /ɡraɪndz/ /ɡraɪndz/ |
| past simple ground | /ɡraʊnd/ /ɡraʊnd/ |
| past participle ground | /ɡraʊnd/ /ɡraʊnd/ |
| -ing form grinding | /ˈɡraɪndɪŋ/ /ˈɡraɪndɪŋ/ |
- [transitive] grind something (down/up) | grind something (to/into something) to break or press something into very small pieces between two hard surfaces or using a special machine
- to grind coffee/corn
- The animal has teeth that grind its food into a pulp.
Extra ExamplesTopics Cooking and eatingc1- The cement need not be finely ground.
- The coffee is ground to a fine powder.
- freshly ground black pepper
- machinery for grinding wheat into flour
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- coarsely
- finely
- down
- …
- into
- to
- freshly ground
- [transitive] grind something to produce something such as flour by grinding
- The flour is ground using traditional methods.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- coarsely
- finely
- down
- …
- into
- to
- freshly ground
- (North American English) (also mince British and North American English)[transitive] grind something to cut food, especially meat, into very small pieces using a special machine (called a mincer)Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb
- coarsely
- finely
- down
- …
- into
- to
- freshly ground
- [transitive] grind something to make something sharp or smooth by rubbing it against a hard surface
- a special stone for grinding knives
- [transitive] to press or rub something into a surface
- grind something into something He ground his cigarette into the ashtray.
- grind something in The dirt on her hands was ground in.
- [intransitive, transitive] to rub together, or to make hard objects rub together, often producing an unpleasant noise
- grind (together) Parts of the machine were grinding together noisily.
- grind something (together) She grinds her teeth when she is asleep.
- He ground the gears on the car.
- [transitive] grind something to turn the handle of a machine that grinds something
- to grind a pepper mill
food/flour/coffee
make sharp/smooth
press into surface
rub together
machine
Word OriginOld English grindan, probably of Germanic origin. Although no cognates are known, it may be distantly related to Latin frendere ‘rub away, gnash’.
Idioms
bring something to a grinding halt
- to make something gradually go slower until it stops completely
- Roadworks brought traffic to a grinding halt.
grind to a halt | come to a grinding halt
- to go slower gradually and then stop completely
- Production ground to a halt during the strike.
- Her career ground to a halt when the twins were born.
have an axe to grind
- to have private reasons for being involved in something or for arguing for a particular cause
- She had no axe to grind and was only acting out of concern for their safety.
- These criticisms are commonly voiced by those who have some political axe to grind.