Defn: A halfround single-cut file or fioat, having one curved face and one straight face, — used by comb makers. Knight.
GRAIN
Grain, v. & n.
Defn: See Groan. [Obs.]
GRAIN Grain, n. Etym: [F. grain, L. granum, grain, seed, small kernel, small particle. See Corn, and cf. Garner, n., Garnet, Gram the chick- pea, Granule, Kernel.]
1. A single small hard seed; a kernel, especially of those plants, like wheat, whose seeds are used for food.
2. The fruit of certain grasses which furnish the chief food of man, as corn, wheat, rye, oats, etc., or the plants themselves; — used collectively. Storehouses crammed with grain. Shak.
3. Any small, hard particle, as of sand, sugar, salt, etc.; hence, any minute portion or particle; as, a grain of gunpowder, of pollen, of starch, of sense, of wit, etc. I . . . with a grain of manhood well resolved. Milton.
4. The unit of the English system of weights; — so called because considered equal to the average of grains taken from the middle of the ears of wheat. 7,000 grains constitute the pound avoirdupois, and 5,760 grains the pound troy. A grain is equal to .0648 gram. See Gram.
5. A reddish dye made from the coccus insect, or kermes; hence, a red color of any tint or hue, as crimson, scarlet, etc.; sometimes used by the poets as equivalent to Tyrian purple. All in a robe of darkest grain. Milton. Doing as the dyers do, who, having first dipped their silks in colors of less value, then give' them the last tincture of crimson in grain. Quoted by Coleridge, preface to Aids to Reflection.
6. The composite particles of any substance; that arrangement of the particles of any body which determines its comparative roughness or hardness; texture; as, marble, sugar, sandstone, etc., of fine grain. Hard box, and linden of a softer grain. Dryden.