Grāīn1, n.
n. [Fr. grain, graine, Pr. gran, gra, grana, Sp. & It. grano, grana, from Lat. granum, grain, seed, small kernel.]
Sense 1. A single small, hard seed; a kernel; especially of certain plants, like corn and wheat, which are used for food.
Sense 2. The fruit of certain kindred plants which constitute the chief food of man, viz., corn, wheat, rye, oats, &c., or the plants themselves;—used collectively. “Storehouses crammed with grain.” Shak.
Sense 3. Any small, hard particle, as of sand, sugar, salt, &c.; hence, any small portion; as, a grain of sense, of wit, and the like.
I . . . with a grain of manhood well resolved. Milton.
Sense 4. A small weight, or the smallest weight ordinarily used, being the twentieth part of a scruple, in apothecaries’ weight, and the twenty-fourth of a pennyweight troy; 7000 such grains are equal to a pound avoirdupois.
Sense 5. A reddish-colored dye made from the coccus insect, or kermes; hence, a red color of any tint or hue, as crimson, scarlet, &c.;—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. Coleridge.
Sense 6. The composite particles of any substance; that arrangement of the particles of any body which determines its comparative roughness; texture; as, marble, sugar, sandstone, &c., of fine grain.
Sense 7. The arrangement or the direction of the veins or fibers of wood.
Sense 8. (pl.) The husks or remains of malt after brewing, or of any grain after distillation; hence, any residuum.
Sense 9. A tine, prong, or spike. Ray.
Against the grain, against the fibers of wood; hence, unwillingly; unpleasantly; reluctantly; with difficulty.—Grains of paradise, seeds of a species of amomum. See AMOMUM.—In grain, deeply seated; fixed. “Anguish in grain.” Herbert.—To dye in grain, to dye with the tint made from grain [see No. 5]; hence, to dye firmly; hence, also, to dye in the wool, or in the raw material.—To go against the grain of, to be repugnant to; to cause vexation, mortification, or trouble to.