Etymology : Middle English, from Old English grindan; akin to Latin frendere to crush, grind
Pronunciation : 'grInd
Function : verb
Date : before 12th century
1. crushing, breaking up into small particles; sharpening; rubbing together harshly; oppression; act of operating by turning a crank; working or studying hard. oppressive; crushing; grating; sharpening. grinding\grind"ing\, a. & n. from grind.grinding frame, an english name for a cotton spinning machine.grinding mill. (a) a mill for grinding grain. (b) a lapidary's lathe.
2. from Grind. a harsh and strident sound matter resulting from the process of grinding; "vegetable grindings clogged the drain" the wearing down of rock particles by friction due to water or wind or ice.
3. To reduce to powder by friction, as in a mill, or with the teeth; to crush into small fragments; to produce as by the action of millstones.
4. To wear down, polish, or sharpen, by friction; to make smooth, sharp, or pointed; to whet, as a knife or drill; to rub against one another, as teeth, etc.
5. To oppress by severe exactions; to harass.
6. To study hard for examination.
7. To perform the operation of grinding something; to turn the millstones.
8. To become ground or pulverized by friction; as, this corn grinds well.
9. To become polished or sharpened by friction; as, glass grinds smooth; steel grinds to a sharp edge.
10. To move with much difficulty or friction; to grate.
11. To perform hard and distasteful service; to drudge; to study hard, as for an examination.
12. The act of reducing to powder, or of sharpening, by friction.
13. Any severe continuous work or occupation; esp., hard and uninteresting study.
14. A hard student; a dig. the act of grinding to a powder or dust reduce to small pieces or particles by pounding or abrading; "grind the spices in a mortar"; "mash the garlic" dance by rotating the pelvis in an erotically suggestive way, often while in contact with one's partner such that the dancers' legs are interlaced.
15. 1. If you describe a bad situation as grinding, you mean it never gets better, changes, or ends. Their grandfather had left his village in order to escape the grinding poverty. + grindingly grind·ing·ly Nursing was ill-paid and grindingly hard work.
16. emphasis If you say that something comes to a grinding halt, you are emphasizing that it stops very suddenly, especially before it was meant to. A car will come to a grinding halt if you put water in the petrol tank. see also:
grind.