grind

views updated May 17 2018

grind / grīnd/ • v. (past ground / ground/ ) 1. [tr.] reduce (something) to small particles or powder by crushing it: grind some black pepper over the salad they grind up fish for fertilizer. ∎  [intr.] (of a mill or machine) work with a crushing action: the old mill was grinding again. ∎  sharpen, smooth, or produce (something) by crushing or by friction: power from a waterwheel was used to grind cutlery. ∎  operate (a mill or machine) by turning the handle: she was grinding a coffee mill.2. rub or cause to rub together gratingly: [intr.] tectonic plates that inexorably grind against each other | [tr.] he keeps me awake at night, grinding his teeth. ∎  [intr.] move noisily and laboriously, esp. against a countering force: the truck was grinding slowly up the hill.3. [intr.] inf. (of a dancer) rotate the hips: go-go girls grinding to blaring disco.• n. [in sing.] 1. a crushing or grating sound or motion: the crunch and grind of bulldozers | fig. the slow grind of the U.S. legal system. ∎  hard dull work: relief from the daily grind. ∎ inf. an excessively hard-working student. ∎  the size of ground particles: only the right grind gives you all the fine flavor.2. inf. a dancer's rotary movement of the hips: a bump and grind.PHRASES: grind to a halt (or come to a grinding halt) move more and more slowly and then stop.PHRASAL VERBS: grind away work or study hard.grind someone down wear someone down with continuous harsh or oppressive treatment: mundane everyday things which just grind people down.grind on continue for a long time in a wearying or tedious way: the rail talks grind on.grind something out produce something dull or tedious slowly and laboriously: I must grind out some more fiction.

grind

views updated May 14 2018

grind reduce to small particles; make a scraping or grating noise OE. (spec. gnash; also trans. XIV); sharpen the edge of XIII; work laboriously (at) XVIII. OE. str. vb. grindan, of which there are no Gmc. cogns. An IE. base *ghrendh- is repr. by L. frendere rub away, gnash, Lith. gréndžiu I rub.
Hence grind sb. hard task XIX. grindstone XIII.

grind

views updated May 23 2018

grind To reduce hard foods such as nuts and coffee beans to small particles using a food mill or grinder.

Grind

views updated May 21 2018

Grind

a school of blackfish or bottle-nosed whales, 1885.