WordWeb Online

1. A relatively small granular particle of a substance
   "a grain of sand"; "a grain of sugar"
    
2. Foodstuff prepared from the starchy grains of cereal grasses
   - food grain, cereal
    
3. The side of leather from which the hair has been removed
    
4. A weight unit used for pearls or diamonds: 50 mg or 1/4 carat
   - metric grain
    
5. 1/60 dram; equals an avoirdupois grain or 64.799 milligrams
    
6. 1/7000 pound; equals a troy grain or 64.799 milligrams
    
7. Dry seed-like fruit produced by the cereal grasses: e.g. wheat, barley, Indian corn
   - caryopsis
    
8. A cereal grass
   "wheat is a grain that is grown in Kansas"
    
9. The smallest possible unit of anything
   "there was a grain of truth in what he said"; "he does not have a grain of sense"
    
10. The direction, texture, or pattern of fibers found in wood or leather or stone or in a woven fabric
    "saw the board across the grain"
     
11. The physical composition of something (especially with respect to the size and shape of the small constituents of a substance)
    "sand of a fine grain"; "a stone of coarse grain";
    - texture

1. Thoroughly work in
   "His hands were grained with dirt";
   - ingrain, engrain
    
2. Paint (a surface) to make it look like stone or wood
    
3. Form into grains
   - granulate
    
4. Become granular
   - granulate

Derived forms: grains, graining, grained

Type of: apothecaries' unit, apothecaries' weight, atom, avoirdupois unit, cereal, cereal grass, change form, change shape, composition, constitution, corpuscle, deform, food product, foodstuff, form, leather, littleness, makeup, make-up, metric weight unit, molecule, mote, paint, particle, penetrate, perforate, physical composition, seed, smallness, speck, texture, troy unit, weight unit

Part of: decigram, decigramme [Brit, Cdn], dg, dram, pennyweight, scruple

Encyclopedia: Grain, Peter