grid

noun

1. A rectangular array of squares or rectangles of equal size, such as in a crossword puzzle.
2. A tiling of the plane with regular polygons; a honeycomb.
3. A system for delivery of electricity, consisting of various substations, transformers and generators, connected by wire.

   “You can't turn off the building from here; you have to shut down the whole grid.”

   “[Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.”

4. A system or structure of distributed computers working mostly on a peer-to-peer basis, used mainly to solve single and complex scientific or technical problems or to process data at high speeds (as in clusters).
5. A method of marking off maps into areas.
6. The pattern of starting positions of the drivers for a race.

   “McLaren's Lewis Hamilton fought up from the back of the grid to eighth, with team-mate Jenson Button taking ninth.”

7. The third (or higher) electrode of a vacuum tube (triode or higher).
8. A battery-plate somewhat like a grating, especially a zinc plate in a primary battery, or a lead plate in a secondary or storage battery.
9. A grating of parallel bars; a gridiron.

   “They camped that night at Dingo Creek, the fire Jim quickly made, Put the Billy on the cross-piece, pitched the tent, Brought a steak from 'neath the saddle-flap, and on the "grid" 'twas laid, A piece of rusty fencing wire, well bent.”

10. An openwork ceiling above the stage or studio, used for affixing lights etc.

    “Everything on the grid – all the backdrops and curtains, anything that has to move up and down from the fly-tower – has to be counterweighted.”

11. (Australia, New-Zealand)A bicycle.

    “‘Hop on the bar of my grid,’ said D'Arcy. ‘I'll double you round to meet some pals of ours.’”

12. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, dated, offensive, uncountable)Acronym of gay-related immunodeficiency (“AIDS”).

    “The cause of the disorder is unknown. Researchers call it A.I.D., for acquired immunodeficiency disease, or GRID, for gay-related immunodeficiency. It has been reported in 20 states and seven countries.”

verb

1. To mark with a grid.
2. To assign a reference grid to.
3. To enter in a grid.

   “On the SAT, to answer a grid-in question, you grid in your answer by filling out the ovals.”