GRAIN, n. [L. granum.]

1. Any small hard mass; as, a grain of sand or gravel. Hence,
2. A single seed or hard seed of a plant, particularly of those kinds whose seeds are used for food of man or beast. This is usually inclosed in a proper shell or covered with a husk, and contains the embryo of a new plant. Hence,
3. Grain, without a definitive, signifies corn in general, or the fruit of certain plants which constitutes the chief food of man and beast, as wheat, rye, barley, oats, and maiz.
4. A minute particle.
5. A small weight, or the smallest weight ordinarily used, being the twentieth part of the scruple in apothecaries' weight, and the twenty fourth of a pennyweight troy.
6. A component part of stones and metals.
7. The veins or fibers of wood or other fibrous substance; whence, cross-grained, and against the grain.
8. The body or substance of wood as modified by the fibers. Hard box, and linden of a softer grain. Dryden.
9. The body or substance of a thing considered with respect to the size, form or direction of the constituent particles; as, stones of a fine grain. Woodward. The tooth of a sea-horse, contains a curdled grain. Brown.
10. Any thing proverbially small; a very small particle or portion; as, a grain of wit or of common sense. Neglect not to make use of any grain of grace. – Hammond.
11. Dyed or stained substance. All in a robe of darkest grain. – Milton.
12. The direction of the fibers of wood or other fibrous substance; hence the phrase, against the grain, applied to animals, that is, against their natural tempers.
13. The heart or temper; as, brothers not united in grain. – Hayward.
14. The form of the surface of any thing with respect to smoothness or roughness; state of the grit of any body composed of grains; as, sandstone of a fine grain.
15. A tine, prong or spike. – Ray. A grain of allowance, a small allowance or indulgence; a small portion to be remitted; something above or below just weight. – Watts. To dye in grain, is to dye in the raw material, as wool or silk before it is manufactured.

To yield fruit. [Obs.] – Gower.

1. See Groan.
   
   
   [Obs.]
2. A single small hard seed; a kernel, especially of those plants, like wheat, whose seeds are used for food.
3. To paint in imitation of the grain of wood, marble, etc.
4. To yield fruit.
   
   
   [Obs.] Gower.
5. A branch of a tree; a stalk or stem of a plant.
   
   
   [Obs.] G. Douglas.
6. The fruit of certain grasses which furnish the chief food of man, as corn, wheat, rye, oats, etc., or the plants themselves; -- used collectively.
   
   

   Storehouses crammed with grain. Shak.

7. To form (powder, sugar, etc.) into grains.
8. To form grains, or to assume a granular form, as the result of crystallization; to granulate.
9. A tine, prong, or fork.
   
   
   Specifically: (a)
10. Any small, hard particle, as of sand, sugar, salt, etc.; hence, any minute portion or particle; as, a grain of gunpowder, of pollen, of starch, of sense, of wit, etc.
    
    

    I . . . with a grain of manhood well resolved. Milton.

11. To take the hair off (skins)] to soften and raise the grain of (leather, etc.).
12. A blade of a sword, knife, etc.
13. The unit of the English system of weights; -- so called because considered equal to the average of grains taken from the middle of the ears of wheat. 7,000 grains constitute the pound avoirdupois, and 5,760 grains the pound troy. A grain is equal to .0648 gram. See Gram.
14. A thin piece of metal, used in a mold to steady a core.
15. 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. Milton.

    Doing as the dyers do, who, having first dipped their silks in colors of less value, then give' them the last tincture of crimson in grain. Quoted by Coleridge, preface to Aids to Reflection.

16. The composite particles of any substance; that arrangement of the particles of any body which determines its comparative roughness or hardness; texture; as, marble, sugar, sandstone, etc., of fine grain.
    
    

    Hard box, and linden of a softer grain. Dryden.

17. The direction, arrangement, or appearance of the fibers in wood, or of the strata in stone, slate, etc.
    
    

    Knots, by the conflux of meeting sap,
    Infect the sound pine and divert his grain
    Tortive and errant from his course of growth. Shak.

18. The fiber which forms the substance of wood or of any fibrous material.
19. The hair side of a piece of leather, or the marking on that side.
    
    
    Knight.
20. The remains of grain, etc., after brewing or distillation; hence, any residuum. Also called draff.
21. A rounded prominence on the back of a sepal, as in the common dock. See Grained, a., 4.
22. Temper; natural disposition; inclination.
    
    
    [Obs.]

    Brothers . . . not united in grain. Hayward.

23. A sort of spice, the grain of paradise.
    
    
    [Obs.]

    He cheweth grain and licorice,
    To smellen sweet. Chaucer.

    Against the grain, against or across the direction of the fibers; hence, against one's wishes or tastes; unwillingly; unpleasantly; reluctantly; with difficulty. Swift. Saintsbury.-- A grain of allowance, a slight indulgence or latitude a small allowance. -- Grain binder, an attachment to a harvester for binding the grain into sheaves. -- Grain colors, dyes made from the coccus or kermes insect. -- Grain leather. (a) Dressed horse hides. (b) Goat, seal, and other skins blacked on the grain side for women's shoes, etc. -- Grain moth (Zoöl.), one of several small moths, of the family Tineidæ (as Tinea granella and Butalis cerealella), whose larvæ devour grain in storehouses. -- Grain side (Leather), the side of a skin or hide from which the hair has been removed; -- opposed to flesh side. -- Grains of paradise, the seeds of a species of amomum. -- grain tin, crystalline tin ore metallic tin smelted with charcoal. -- Grain weevil (Zoöl.), a small red weevil (Sitophilus granarius), which destroys stored wheat and other grain, by eating out the interior. -- Grain worm (Zoöl.), the larva of the grain moth. See grain moth, above. -- In grain, of a fast color; deeply seated; fixed; innate; genuine. "Anguish in grain." Herbert. -- To dye in grain, to dye of a fast color by means of the coccus or kermes grain [see Grain, n., 5]; hence, to dye firmly; also, to dye in the wool, or in the raw material. See under Dye.

    The red roses flush up in her cheeks . . .
    Likce crimson dyed in grain. Spenser.

    -- To go against the grain of (a person), to be repugnant to; to vex, irritate, mortify, or trouble.