Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To crush, pulverize, or reduce to powder by friction, especially by rubbing between two hard surfaces.
  • intransitive verb To shape, sharpen, or refine with friction.
  • intransitive verb To rub (two surfaces) together harshly; gnash.
  • intransitive verb To bear down on harshly; crush.
  • intransitive verb To oppress or weaken gradually or persistently.
  • intransitive verb To operate by turning a crank.
  • intransitive verb To produce or process by turning a crank.
  • intransitive verb To produce mechanically or without inspiration.
  • intransitive verb To instill or teach by persistent repetition.
  • intransitive verb To perform the operation of grinding something.
  • intransitive verb To become crushed, pulverized, or powdered by friction.
  • intransitive verb To move with noisy friction; grate.
  • intransitive verb To ride a skateboard, a snowboard, or skis over a grind rail or narrow surface, often with the board or skis at right angles to the direction of movement.
  • intransitive verb Informal To devote oneself to study or work.
  • intransitive verb Slang To rotate the pelvis erotically, as in the manner of a stripteaser.
  • noun The act of grinding.
  • noun A crunching or grinding noise.
  • noun A specific grade or degree of pulverization, as of coffee beans.
  • noun Informal A laborious task, routine, or study.
  • noun Informal A student who works or studies excessively.
  • noun Slang An erotic rotation of the pelvis.
  • idiom (grind it out) To make a persistent effort in doing something that is difficult; work at something persistently.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Nautical, a kink, half-turn, or twist in a rope.
  • To break and reduce to fine particles by pounding, crushing, or rubbing, as in a mill or a mortar, or with the teeth; bray; triturate: as, to grind corn.
  • To produce by grinding, or by action comparable to that of grinding: as, to grind flour; to grind out a tune on an organ.
  • To wear down, smooth, or sharpen by friction; give a smooth surface, edge, or point to, as by friction of a wheel or revolving stone; whet.
  • To grate or rub harshly together; grit.
  • To set in motion or operate, as by turning a crank: as, to grind a coffee-mill; to grind a hand-organ.
  • To oppress by severe exactions; afflict with hardship or cruelty.
  • To satirize severely; make a jest of.
  • To teach in a dull, laborious manner.
  • To study or learn by close application or hard work; master laboriously: as, to grind out a problem.
  • To perform the act or operation of grinding, grating, or harshly rubbing; turn a mill, a grindstone, or some similar machine.
  • To be grated or rubbed together: as, the jaws grind.
  • To be ground or pulverized by pounding or rubbing: as, dry corn grinds fine.
  • To be polished or sharpened by friction: as, marble or steel grinds readily.
  • To perform tedious and distasteful work; drudge; especially, to study hard; prepare for examination by close application.
  • noun The act of grinding, or turning a mill, a grindstone, etc.
  • noun The sound of grinding or grating.
  • noun Hard or tedious and distasteful work; constant employment; especially, in college slang, laborious study; close application to study.
  • noun One who studies laboriously or with dogged application.
  • noun A piece of satire; a jest.
  • noun A satirist; an inveterate jester.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of reducing to powder, or of sharpening, by friction.
  • noun colloq. Any severe continuous work or occupation; esp., hard and uninteresting study.
  • noun College Slang A student that studies hard; a dig; a wonk.
  • intransitive verb To perform the operation of grinding something; to turn the millstones.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English grinden, from Old English grindan; see ghrendh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English grindan, cognate with Dutch grind 'gravel, shingel'.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word grind.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • working hard, focusing. "on my daily grind"

    June 12, 2007

  • A slang synonym for fuck. As in, when crashing gears, 'another grind like that and we'll have to get engaged'.

    July 31, 2009