grain

noun

1. (uncountable)The harvested seeds of various grass food crops eg: wheat, corn, barley.

   “We stored a thousand tons of grain for the winter.”

2. (uncountable)Similar seeds from any food crop, e.g., buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa.
3. (countable)A single seed of grass food crops.

   “a grain of wheat”

   “grains of oat”

4. (countable, uncountable)The crops from which grain is harvested.

   “The fields were planted with grain.”

   “A grain, which in England is generally given to horſes, but which in Scotland ſupports the people.”

5. (uncountable)A linear texture of a material or surface.

   “Cut along the grain of the wood.”

   “He doesn't like to shave against the grain.”

6. (countable)A single particle of a substance.

   “a grain of sand”

   “a grain of salt”

7. (countable, uncountable)Any of various small units of mass originally notionally based on grain's weight, variously standardized at different places and times, including
8. (countable, uncountable)Any of various small units of mass originally notionally based on grain's weight, variously standardized at different places and times, including
9. (countable, historical, uncountable)Any of various small units of mass originally notionally based on grain's weight, variously standardized at different places and times, including
10. (countable, historical)Any of various small units of length originally notionally based on a grain's width, variously standardized at different places and times.
11. (countable, historical)The carat grain of ¹⁄₄ carat as a measure of gold purity, creating a 96-point scale between 0% and 100% purity.
12. (countable, uncountable)A region within a material having a single crystal structure or direction.
13. (countable, uncountable)The solid piece of fuel in an individual solid-fuel rocket engine.
14. (countable, uncountable)A reddish dye made from the coccus insect, or kermes; hence, a red color of any tint or hue, as crimson, scarlet, etc.; sometimes used by the poets as equivalent to Tyrian purple.

    “all in a robe of darkest grain”

    “[…] doing as the dyers do, who, having first dipped their silks in colours of less value, then give them the last tincture of crimson in grain.”

15. (countable, uncountable)The hair side of a piece of leather, or the marking on that side.

    “The grain of the leather is also sometimes damaged by the filling , by the taking off the hair , and by the river work.”

16. (countable, in-plural, uncountable)The remains of grain, etc., after brewing or distillation; hence, any residuum.
17. (countable, uncountable)A rounded prominence on the back of a sepal, as in the common dock.
18. (countable, uncountable)Temper; natural disposition; inclination.

    “brothers […] not united in grain”

19. (countable, uncountable)Visual texture in processed photographic film due to the presence of small particles of a metallic silver, or dye clouds, developed from silver halide that have received enough photons.
20. A branch of a tree; a stalk or stem of a plant; an offshoot.
21. A tine, prong, or fork.
22. A tine, prong, or fork.

    “Served 5 lb of fish per man which was caught by striking with grains”

23. A tine, prong, or fork.
24. A tine, prong, or fork.
25. A thin piece of metal, used in a mould to steady a core.
26. (dialectal)A branch or arm of a stream, inlet, or sea.
27. (dialectal)A fork in a river valley or ravine.
28. (dialectal)The branch of a family; clan.
29. (dialectal)The groin; crotch.
30. (dialectal)The fangs of a tooth.

verb

1. (transitive)To feed grain to.

   “He said that no man loved his horses, unless his own hands grained them. Every Christmas he gave them brimming measures.”

2. (transitive)To make granular; to form into grains.
3. (intransitive)To form grains, or to assume a granular form, as the result of crystallization; to granulate.
4. To texture a surface in imitation of the grain of a substance such as wood.
5. To remove the hair or fat from a skin.
6. To soften leather.
7. To yield fruit.

name

1. A village in Isle of Grain parish, Isle of Grain, Medway borough, Kent, England (OS grid ref TQ8876).
2. A surname.