graille

[Etym. doubtful; cf. O. Fr. graile; Fr. grêle slender.] A single-cut file or float, having one curved and one straight face. It is used by comb-makers. grāin, *grayn, *grein, *greyn, s. [Fr. grain; from Lat. granum a grain, corn; cogn. with corn (q. v.).] I. Ordinary Language : 1. A single seed of a plant. (Particularly used of those plants the seeds of which are used as food for man.) "His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff; you shall seek all ere you find them."Shakesp.: Merchant of Venice, i. 1. 2. Used collectively, and without a definitive, for corn in general, or the fruit of cereal plants, as wheat, barley, rye, . In America restricted to the grain of wheat. "For winter drought rewards the peasant's pain, And broods indulgent on the buried grain ." Dryden: Virgil; Georgic i. 148. 3. Those plants the seeds of which constitute the food of man; cereal plants, as wheat, barley, oats, . IMG:content-0681.png:[blocks in formation] 6. Hence, used for a minute portion or particle, the smallest particle or amount. "Do they [worldly goods] either recommend him more to God or wise men, or even to himself, if he have a grain of sense in him, than if he was without them?"-Sharp: Sermons, vol. i., ser. 4. 7. One of the constituent particles of a body, as of a metal, a stone, . 8. The body or substance of anything considered with respect to the form or direction of the constituent particles; the form or appearance of the surface of a body with respect to the quality or arrangement of the particles. "When any side of it was cut smooth and polite, it appeared to have a very lovely grain , like that of some curious close wood." - Evelyn: Forest Trees , ch. xxx., § 12. 9. The arrangement or direction of the fibers of wood or other fibrous substance. "The marks of the grain of the wood have been 2057 *11. A kind of spice; cardamum; grains of paradise. "He cheweth greyn and lycoris." -Chaucer: C. T., 3,690. *12. A seed-pearl. "A grein in golde that godly shon."-Lyric Poems, p. 38. *13. An old name applied to several insects of the genus Coccus, from their round, seed-like form. *14. A red or scarlet dye, obtained from the coccus insect; cochineal; a scarlet or purple color. "All in a robe of darkest grain , Flowing with majestic train." Milton: Il Penseroso, 33. IMG:content-0682.png:[blocks in formation] 1. Dyeing: A firm dye, or one applied thoroughly; in the wool, not in the web. 2. Painting : A style of painting in imitation of the natural grains of wood, marble, . 3. Weights : The unit of weight in the English system. In a pound avoirdupois are 7,000 grains, in a pound troy 5,760 grains. A grain is equal to 0647990 grammes. "Lay by the arbitrary names of pence and shillings, and consider and speak of it [money] as grains and ounces of silver, and 'tis as easy as telling of twenty." Locke : Letter to Mr. Molyneuх. tion to the flesh side. 4. Skins: The hair side of skins, in contra dist inc (1) Against the grain : Against the natural bias or inclination. IMG:content-0683.png:[blocks in formation] (b) Innate, natural, real, not factitious; genuine. (c) Deeply seated; in nature. (3) Grains of allowance: Some little quantity or part allowed or remitted; a little allowance made. (4) Grains of Paradise : Bot.: The seeds of Amomum grana paradisi . They are acrid seeds, used to give a pungent taste to spirituous liquors. Called also Guinea-grains. grain-bin, s. A box or compartment in which grain is stored in a granary or elevator.