verb, ground or (Rare
) grind⋅ed; grind⋅ing; noun | 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. |
| 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 fol. by away): He was grinding away at his algebra. |
| 13. | Slang. (in a dance) to rotate the hips in a suggestive manner. Compare bump (def. 11). |
| 14. | the act of grinding. |
| 15. | a grinding sound. |
| 16. | a grade of particle fineness into which a substance is ground: The coffee is available in various grinds for different coffee makers. |
| 17. | laborious, usually uninteresting work: Copying all the footnotes was a grind. |
| 18. | Informal. an excessively diligent student. |
| 19. | Slang. a dance movement in which the hips are rotated in a suggestive or erotic manner. Compare bump (def. 20). |
| 20. | grind out,
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| 1. | the solid surface of the earth; firm or dry land: to fall to the ground. |
| 2. | earth or soil: stony ground. |
| 3. | land having an indicated character: rising ground. |
| 4. | Often, grounds. a tract of land appropriated to a special use: picnic grounds; a hunting ground. |
| 5. | Often, grounds. the foundation or basis on which a belief or action rests; reason or cause: grounds for dismissal. |
| 6. | subject for discussion; topic: Sex education is forbidden ground in some school curricula. |
| 7. | rational or factual support for one's position or attitude, as in a debate or argument: on firm ground; on shaky ground. |
| 8. | the main surface or background in painting, decorative work, lace, etc. |
| 9. | Fine Arts.
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| 10. | (in perception) the background in a visual field, contrasted with the figure. |
| 11. | Also called etching ground. an acid-resistant substance, composed of wax, gum, and resin in varying proportions, applied to the entire surface of an etching plate and through which the design is drawn with an etching needle. |
| 12. | grounds, dregs or sediment: coffee grounds. |
| 13. | grounds, the gardens, lawn, etc., surrounding and belonging to a building. |
| 14. | Electricity. a conducting connection between an electric circuit or equipment and the earth or some other conducting body. |
| 15. | Music. ground bass. |
| 16. | Nautical. the bottom of a body of water. |
| 17. | the earth's solid or liquid surface; land or water. |
| 18. | Carpentry.
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| 19. | situated on or at, or adjacent to, the surface of the earth: a ground attack. |
| 20. | pertaining to the ground. |
| 21. | Military. operating on land: ground forces. |
| 22. | to lay or set on the ground. |
| 23. | to place on a foundation; fix firmly; settle or establish; found. |
| 24. | to instruct in elements or first principles: to ground students in science. |
| 25. | to furnish with a ground or background, as on decorative work. |
| 26. | to cover (wallpaper) with colors or other materials before printing. |
| 27. | Electricity. to establish a ground for (a circuit, device, etc.). |
| 28. | Nautical. to cause (a vessel) to run aground. |
| 29. | Aeronautics. to restrict (an aircraft or the like) to the ground because of bad weather, the unsatisfactory condition of the aircraft, etc. |
| 30. | to forbid (a pilot) to fly because of bad health, failure to comply with safety regulations, or the like. |
| 31. | Informal. to put out of action or make unable to participate: The quarterback was grounded by a knee injury. |
| 32. | Informal. to restrict the activities, esp. the social activities, of: I can't go to the party—my parents have grounded me until my grades improve. |
| 33. | to come to or strike the ground. |
| 34. | Baseball.
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| 35. | ground out, Baseball. to be put out at first base after hitting a ground ball to the infield. |
| 36. | break ground,
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| 37. | cover ground,
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| 38. | cut the ground from under, to render (an argument, position, person, etc.) ineffective or invalid; refute: It didn't require much effort to cut the ground from under that case. |
| 39. | from the ground up,
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| 40. | gain ground,
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| 41. | give ground, to yield to force or forceful argument; retreat: The disarmament talks reached an impasse when neither side would give ground on inspection proposals. |
| 42. | hold or stand one's ground, to maintain one's position; be steadfast: The referee stood his ground, though his decision was hotly contested by the crowd. |
| 43. | into the ground, beyond a reasonable or necessary point: You've stated your case, and you needn't run it into the ground. |
| 44. | lose ground,
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| 45. | off the ground, Informal. into action or well under way: The play never got off the ground. |
| 46. | on one's own ground, in an area or situation that one knows well. |
| 47. | on the ground, at the place of interest or importance; actively engaged: Minutes after the bank robbery reporters were on the ground to get the story. |
| 48. | shift ground, to change position in an argument or situation. |
| 49. | suit down to the ground, to be perfectly satisfactory; please greatly: This climate suits me down to the ground. |
| 50. | take the ground, Nautical. to become grounded at low water. |
| 51. | to ground,
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ground 1 (ground) n.
v. tr.
ground out Baseball To be put out by hitting a ground ball that is fielded and thrown to first base. Idiom(s): drive/run into the groundTo belabor (an issue or a subject). Idiom(s): from the ground upFrom the most basic level to the highest level; completely: designed the house from the ground up; learned the family business from the ground up. Idiom(s): off the groundUnder way, as if in flight: Because of legal difficulties, the construction project never got off the ground. Idiom(s): on (one's) own groundIn a situation where one has knowledge or competence: a sculptor back on her own ground after experiments with painting. Idiom(s): on the groundAt a place that is exciting, interesting, or important. Idiom(s): to ground
[Middle English, from Old English grund.] |
grind
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"This Text holdeth their noses so hard to the grindstone, that it clean disfigureth their Faces." [Frith, "Mirror to know Thyself," 1532]The main modern (reflective) sense of "work hard" is from 1828.
ground (ground) Pronunciation Key
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