(n.) A single small hard seed; a kernel, especially of those plants, like wheat, whose seeds are used for food.
(n.) The fruit of certain grasses which furnish the chief food of man, as corn, wheat, rye, oats, etc., or the plants themselves; -- used collectively.
(n.) 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.
(n.) 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.
(n.) 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.
(n.) 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.
(n.) The direction, arrangement, or appearance of the fibers in wood, or of the strata in stone, slate, etc.
(n.) The fiber which forms the substance of wood or of any fibrous material.
(n.) The hair side of a piece of leather, or the marking on that side.
(n.) The remains of grain, etc., after brewing or distillation; hence, any residuum. Also called draff.
(n.) A rounded prominence on the back of a sepal, as in the common dock. See Grained, a., 4.
(a.) Temper; natural disposition; inclination.
(a.) A sort of spice, the grain of paradise.
(v. t.) To paint in imitation of the grain of wood, marble, etc.
(v. t.) To form (powder, sugar, etc.) into grains.
(v. t.) To take the hair off (skins); to soften and raise the grain of (leather, etc.).
(n.) To yield fruit.
(n.) To form grains, or to assume a granular ferm, as the result of crystallization; to granulate.
(n.) A branch of a tree; a stalk or stem of a plant.
(n.) A tine, prong, or fork.
(n.) One the branches of a valley or of a river.
(n.) An iron first speak or harpoon, having four or more barbed points.
(n.) A blade of a sword, knife, etc.
(n.) A thin piece of metal, used in a mold to steady a core.
Example Sentences:
(1) First, it has diverted grain away from food for fuel, with over a third of US corn now used to produce ethanol and about half of vegetable oils in the EU going towards the production of biodiesel.
(2) It is possible that the formation of a mycetoma grain may limit a patient's exposure to antigens which confer specificity, an explanation which may also account for the variability in antibody responses seen.
(3) Preserving alfalfa as silage and feeding in a TMR to cows in early lactation resulted in greater milk production via increased DMI or improved feed efficiency compared with preserving alfalfa as hay and feeding grain separately.
(4) Results indicate that the rachitogenic factor in rye is not present in the ash portion of the grain, that it can be largely overcome by water extraction and penicillin supplementation, and that an organic solvent extraction has no effect.
(5) Light microscope autoradiography revealed the development of specific silver grains in the medial layer of epineurial and perineurial arteries in sections of sciatic nerve exposed either to [3H]DHA or [3H]QNB.
(6) The 180-acre imperial palace appears to send ripples through the surrounding urban grain like a rock thrown into a pond, forming the successive layers of ring-roads.
(7) The impact of pollen on the respiratory mucosa was modeled by studying the process by which solutes are eluted from pollen grains.
(8) One part fresh pollen grains is uniformly mixed with nine parts of the solution and left at room temperature for at least 5 hr.
(9) With [3H]proline as precursor, the grain densities were greater over surface epithelium than over submucosal gland.
(10) We have recently demonstrated in vitro a potential biological mechanism which could occur in vivo upon inhaling airborne graon dust, thereby constituting a potential inflammatory insult to the respiratory tracts of grain workers.
(11) In addition, livestock-rearing can use up to 200 times more water a kilogram of meat compared to a kilo of grain.
(12) Dietary recommendations for cancer prevention advise reduced intake of fat; increased intake of fruits, vegetables, and grains; and moderate intake of alcohol and salt-cured, salt-pickled, and smoked foods.
(13) Most cases are diagnosed histologically by identification of an actinomycotic grain in the center of the abscess or by cytologic features on Papanicolaou smears.
(14) The labelling intensity (as estimated by the number of silver grains per unit of cytoplasmic area) was maximum in cells having dense-cored vesicles whose mean diameter was between 130 and 170 nm, but decreased for cells with mean diameter of dense cores smaller than 130 nm, or larger than 170 nm.
(15) Comparison of autoradiograms with Nissl-stained sections allowed precise correlation of autoradiographic grain distribution with cytoarchitecture.
(16) "Nonthyroidectomy" cells had few silver grains over RER; most were over secretory granules and Golgi areas.
(17) After 2,6 and 24 hours there is a progressive increase of silver grains on the extracellular space most of them concentrated over thick collagen fibrils.
(18) The grain distribution over luteal cells and arteriolar smooth muscle was reduced (p less than 0.001) after coincubation with excess unlabeled LTC4 but not with excess unlabeled LTA4, LTB4, LTD4, LTE4, prostaglandin (PG)E2, PGF2 alpha or PGI2.
(19) The pollen sterility (up to 30% of grains) is due to the abortive spore development.
(20) The resolution of radioautography with 59Fe was determined with a line source and the distance from the hot line within which half of the grains fell (HD value) was 1650 A.
Soften
Definition:
(v. t.) To make soft or more soft.
(v. t.) To render less hard; -- said of matter.
(v. t.) To mollify; to make less fierce or intractable.
(v. t.) To palliate; to represent as less enormous; as, to soften a fault.
(v. t.) To compose; to mitigate; to assuage.
(v. t.) To make less harsh, less rude, less offensive, or less violent, or to render of an opposite quality.
(v. t.) To make less glaring; to tone down; as, to soften the coloring of a picture.
(v. t.) To make tender; to make effeminate; to enervate; as, troops softened by luxury.
(v. t.) To make less harsh or grating, or of a quality the opposite; as, to soften the voice.
(v. i.) To become soft or softened, or less rude, harsh, severe, or obdurate.
Example Sentences:
(1) The other trend involved softening from penetrant liquid absorption and a concomitant decrease in hardness.
(2) Golding said the government would not soften its stance on drug trafficking and it intended to use a proportion of revenues from its licensing authority to support a public education campaign to discourage pot-smoking by young people and mitigate public health consequences.
(3) Pathologically, there was diffuse incomplete softening of white matter in all cases.
(4) Aware that her press secretary, Bernard Ingham, a former labour correspondent for the Guardian who understood the range of attitudes within trade unions, had tried to soften the impression that she saw Kinnock as another General Galtieri [Argentina’s president during the Falklands war], the draft text tried to distinguish between unions, rival parties and what the final text (the one she actually delivered) called “an organised revolutionary minority” with their “outmoded Marxist dogma about class warfare”.
(5) Add the onion, cook for three minutes, stirring, until softened, then add the wine, sage, lemon peel, lemon juice and 150ml water.
(6) Welfare cuts are now becoming a matter of life or death | Letters Read more But government sources suggested the political pressures on Osborne, who has been criticised publicly by a series of Tory MPs, suggest he will act more flexibly and direct substantial resources to softening the impact of the cuts.
(7) Moisture on the skin was shown to increase the discharge to a standard stimulus, probably by its softening effect on the stratum corneum.
(8) The importance of R for cervical softening during pregnancy and its interaction with E near term and during parturition are discussed.
(9) He and Cameron have spent the week softening up opinion for huge benefit cuts in next week’s budget , due to focus on tax credits, largely paid to in-work, ”hardworking” families, victims of Britain’s swelling ranks of the under-paid.
(10) The method of aspiration with a standard electric operative aspirator should be used for evacuation of the softened brain matter.
(11) But he also suggested the administration was softening its commitment to the Minsk framework for a deal.
(12) In a casserole over a medium heat, fry the onions in the oil and butter for 5 minutes, to soften.
(13) Its lines soften, its edges fade; it shrinks into the raw cold from the river, more like a shrouded mountain than a castle built for kings.
(14) The wizened fish is hammered with a mallet to soften it so you can pull it off in strips to eat.
(15) The substitution of the softeners with deionisers solved this important and unusual clinical problem.
(16) Softening and elution are not sufficient for constriction, however, since high potassium, 2,4-dinitrophenol, and cyanide inhibited constriction without inhibiting the softening or elution of axoplasm.
(17) Ribotyping patterns of aeromonads recovered from well 1, detention basin, sand filter, softener, and distribution samples were compared with those of the five clinical isolates.
(18) By softening these insects in a detergent solution, however, it is possible to make most observations in the same way as on fresh material.
(19) His and Osborne's post-election "softening up" is returning to haunt them.
(20) But recently, their attitude has softened as they realise the importance of music to the island.