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gram

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gram

1[gram]
–noun
a metric unit of mass or weight equal to 15.432 grains; one thousandth of a kilogram. Abbreviation: g
Also, especially British, gramme.


Origin:
1790–1800; < F gramme < LL gramma a small weight < Gk grámma something drawn, a small weight

gram

2[gram]
–noun
1. (in the East Indies) the chickpea used as a food for people and cattle.
2. any of several other beans, as the mung bean, Vigna radiata (green gram or golden gram), or the urd, V. mungo (black gram).

Origin:
1695–1705; < Pg grão < L grānum grain

Gram

[grahm]
–noun
(in the Volsunga Saga) the sword of Sigmund, broken by Odin, repaired by Regin, and used again by Sigurd in killing Fafnir.
Compare Balmung.


Origin:
< ON Gramr lit., angry, evil

-gram

1
a combining form occurring in loanwords from Greek, where it meant “something written,” “drawing” (epigram; diagram); on this model, used in the formation of compound words (oscillogram).
Compare -graph.


Origin:
< Gk -gramma, comb. form of grámma something written or drawn; akin to carve

-gram

2
a combining form of gram 1 : kilogram.

-gram

3
a combining form extracted from telegram, used in the formation of compound words that have the general sense “message, bulletin”: culturegram; electiongram; prophecy-gram.

gram.

mung bean

[muhng]
–noun
1. a plant, Vigna radiata, of the legume family, cultivated for its edible seeds, pods, and young sprouts.
2. the seed or pod of this plant.
Also called gram, green gram.


Origin:
1905–10; earlier moong < Hindi mg, var. of mūg; cf. Pali, Prakrit mugga, Skt mudga

urd

[oord, urd]
–noun
a plant, Vigna mungo, of the legume family, widely cultivated in tropical Asia for its edible seeds and for forage.
Also called gram, black gram.


Origin:
< Hindi urd, urdh, urad, uṛad, Prakrit uḍidda- a pulse
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To gram
gram 1   (grām)   
n.   Abbr. g or gm. or gr.
A metric unit of mass equal to one thousandth (10-3) of a kilogram. See Table at measurement.

[French gramme, from Late Latin gramma, a small weight, from Greek, something written, small weight; see gerbh- in Indo-European roots.]
gram 2   (grām)   
n.  
  1. Any of several plants, such as the chickpea, bearing seeds widely used as food in tropical Asia.

  2. The seeds of such a plant.


[Obsolete Portuguese, from Latin grānum, seed; see gə-no- in Indo-European roots.]
gram 3   (grām)   
n.   Informal
A grandmother.

[Shortening and alteration of gramma1 or grandmother.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Cultural Dictionary

gram

The basic unit of measurement for mass in the metric system; one cubic centimeter of water has a mass of approximately one gram.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

gram 
1797, from Fr. gramme, from L.L. gramma "small weight," from Gk. gramma "small weight," originally "letter of the alphabet," from stem of graphein "to draw, write." Adopted into Eng. about two years before it was established in Fr. as a unit in the metric system by law of 19 frimaire, year VIII (1799).

-gram 
suffix from telegram (1857), first abstracted 1979 (in Gorillagram, a proprietary name in U.S.), and put to wide use in forming new words, such as stripagram (1981). The construction violates Gk. grammar, as an adv. could not properly form part of a compound noun.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: gram
Variant: or chiefly British gramme /'gram/
Function: noun
1 : a metric unit of mass equal to1/1000 kilogram and nearly equal to the mass of one cubic centimeter of water at its maximum density —abbreviation g
2 : the weight of a gramunder standard gravity
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

gram (grām)
n.
Abbr. g, gm., gr.
A metric unit of mass equal to 15.432 grains, one thousandth (10-3) of a kilogram, or 0.035 ounce.

Gram (grām, gräm), Hans Christian Joachim. 1853-1938.

Danish physician who developed (1884) Gram's stain as a method of distinguishing types of bacteria.

-gram suff.
Something written or drawn; a record: cardiogram.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Computing Dictionary

GRAM
An extension of BNF used by the SIS compiler generator.
["SIS - Semantics Implementation System", P.D. Mosses, TR DAIMI MD-30, Aarhus U, Denmark].
(1995-01-23)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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