Grind


[grahynd] /graɪnd/

verb (used with object), ground or (Rare) grinded; grinding.
1.
to wear, smooth, or sharpen by abrasion or friction; whet:
to grind a lens.
2.
to reduce to fine particles, as by pounding or crushing; bray, triturate, or pulverize.
3.
to oppress, torment, or crush:
to grind the poor.
4.
to rub harshly or gratingly; grate together; grit:
to grind one’s teeth.
5.
to operate by turning a crank:
to grind a hand organ.
6.
to produce by crushing or abrasion:
to grind flour.
7.
Slang. to annoy; irritate; irk:
It really grinds me when he’s late.
verb (used without object), ground or (Rare) grinded; grinding.
8.
to perform the operation of reducing to fine particles.
9.
to rub harshly; grate.
10.
to be or become ground.
11.
to be polished or sharpened by friction.
12.
Informal. to work or study laboriously (often followed by away):
He was grinding away at his algebra.
13.
Digital Technology. (in a video game) to perform a monotonous task repeatedly in order to advance a character to a higher level or rank:
You have to grind for hours before you can embark on the main story mission.
14.
Slang. (in a dance) to rotate the hips in a suggestive manner.
Compare (def 12).
noun
15.
the act of grinding.
16.
a grinding sound.
17.
a grade of particle fineness into which a substance is ground:
The coffee is available in various grinds for different coffee makers.
18.
laborious, usually uninteresting work:
Copying all the footnotes was a grind.
19.
Informal. an excessively diligent student.
20.
Slang. a dance movement in which the hips are rotated in a suggestive or erotic manner.
Compare (def 12).
Verb phrases
21.
grind out,

/ɡraɪnd/
verb grinds, grinding, ground
1.
to reduce or be reduced to small particles by pounding or abrading: to grind corn, to grind flour
2.
(transitive) to smooth, sharpen, or polish by friction or abrasion: to grind a knife
3.
to scrape or grate together (two things, esp the teeth) with a harsh rasping sound or (of such objects) to be scraped together
4.
(transitive) foll by out. to speak or say (something) in a rough voice
5.
(transitive) often foll by down. to hold down; oppress; tyrannize
6.
(transitive) to operate (a machine) by turning a handle
7.
(transitive) foll by out. to produce in a routine or uninspired manner: he ground out his weekly article for the paper
8.
(transitive) foll by out. to continue to play in a dull or insipid manner: the band only ground out old tunes all evening
9.
(transitive) often foll by into. to instil (facts, information, etc) by persistent effort: they ground into the recruits the need for vigilance
10.
(intransitive) (informal) to study or work laboriously
11.
(intransitive) (mainly US) to dance erotically by rotating the pelvis (esp in the phrase bump and grind)
noun
12.
(informal) laborious or routine work or study
13.
(slang, mainly US) a person, esp a student, who works excessively hard
14.
a specific grade of pulverization, as of coffee beans: coarse grind
15.
(Brit, slang) the act of sexual intercourse
16.
(mainly US) a dance movement involving an erotic rotation of the pelvis
17.
the act or sound of grinding
v.

Old English grindan “to rub together, grate, scrape,” forgrindan “destroy by crushing” (class III strong verb; past tense grand, past participle grunden), from Proto-Germanic *grindanan (cf. Dutch grenden), related to ground, from PIE *ghrendh- “to grind” (cf. Latin frendere “to gnash the teeth,” Greek khondros “corn, grain,” Lithuanian grendu “to scrape, scratch”). Meaning “to make smooth or sharp by friction” is from c.1300. Most other Germanic languages use a verb cognate with Latin molere (cf. Dutch malen, Old Norse mala, German mahlen).
n.

late 12c., “gnashing the teeth,” from grind (v.). The sense “steady, hard work” first recorded 1851 in college student slang (but cf. gerund-grinder, 1710); the meaning “hard-working student” is American English slang from 1864.

noun

verb

Related Terms

bump and grind, if you can’t find ’em

GRaphical INterpretive Display.
A graphics input language for the PDP-9.
[“GRIND: A Language and Translator for Computer Graphics”, A.P. Conn, Dartmouth, June 1969].
[Jargon File]
(1995-01-31)

1. (MIT and Berkeley) To prettify hardcopy of code, especially LISP code, by reindenting lines, printing keywords and comments in distinct fonts (if available), etc. This usage was associated with the MacLISP community and is now rare; prettyprint was and is the generic term for such operations.
2. (Unix) To generate the formatted version of a document from the nroff, troff, TeX, or Scribe source.
3. To run seemingly interminably, especially (but not necessarily) if performing some tedious and inherently useless task. Similar to crunch or grovel. Grinding has a connotation of using a lot of CPU time, but it is possible to grind a disk, network, etc.
See also hog.
4. To make the whole system slow. “Troff really grinds a PDP-11.”
5. “grind grind” excl. Roughly, “Isn’t the machine slow today!”
[Jargon File]
(1994-12-16)

(Ex. 32:20; Deut. 9:21; Judg. 16:21), to crush small (Heb. tahan); to oppress the poor (Isa. 3:5). The hand-mill was early used by the Hebrews (Num. 11:8). It consisted of two stones, the upper (Deut. 24:6; 2 Sam. 11:21) being movable and slightly concave, the lower being stationary. The grinders mentioned Eccl. 12:3 are the teeth. (See MILL.)

In addition to the idiom beginning with
grind

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