Grate
[greɪt] or [ɡret]
Definition
(noun.) a frame of iron bars to hold a fire.
(noun.) a barrier that has parallel or crossed bars blocking a passage but admitting air.
(noun.) a harsh rasping sound made by scraping something.
(verb.) make a grating or grinding sound by rubbing together; 'grate one's teeth in anger'.
(verb.) reduce to small shreds or pulverize by rubbing against a rough or sharp perforated surface; 'grate carrots and onions'; 'grate nutmeg'.
(verb.) furnish with a grate; 'a grated fireplace'.
Editor: Maggie--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Serving to gratify; agreeable.
(n.) A structure or frame containing parallel or crosed bars, with interstices; a kind of latticework, such as is used ia the windows of prisons and cloisters.
(n.) A frame or bed, or kind of basket, of iron bars, for holding fuel while burning.
(v. t.) To furnish with grates; to protect with a grating or crossbars; as, to grate a window.
(v. t.) To rub roughly or harshly, as one body against another, causing a harsh sound; as, to grate the teeth; to produce (a harsh sound) by rubbing.
(v. t.) To reduce to small particles by rubbing with anything rough or indented; as, to grate a nutmeg.
(v. t.) To fret; to irritate; to offend.
(v. i.) To make a harsh sound by friction.
(v. i.) To produce the effect of rubbing with a hard rough material; to cause wearing, tearing, or bruising. Hence; To produce exasperation, soreness, or grief; to offend by oppression or importunity.
Checker: Mara
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Rub, scrape, abrade.[2]. Rasp, comminute, reduce to particles by rubbing.
v. n. Be irritating, be disagreeable, be offensive.
Checked by Bernadette
Definition
n. a framework composed of bars with interstices esp. one of iron bars for holding coals while burning.—adj. Grat′ed having a grating.—ns. Graticulā′tion the division of a design into squares for convenience in making an enlarged or diminished copy; Grat′ing the bars of a grate: a partition or frame of bars.
v.t. to rub hard or wear away with anything rough: to make a harsh sound: to irritate or offend.—n. Grat′er an instrument with a rough surface for grating down a body.—adj. Grat′ing rubbing hard on the feelings: harsh: irritating.—adv. Grat′ingly.
Checker: Stan
Examples
- The grate might have been the old brazier, and the glow might have been the old hollow down by the flare. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- The fair little face, touched with divine compassion, as it peeped shrinkingly through the grate, was like an angel's in the prison. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- One night he built a fire in the grate and started to throw pistol cartridges into the flames. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Oh, you little un-grate-ful, mur-de-rous, hor-rid villain! Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- She rose with a sigh, tossing her cigarette into the grate. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- He rushed at the burglars, but another--it was an elderly man--stooped, picked the poker out of the grate and struck him a horrible blow as he passed. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- When she left he continued to sit motionless, his elbows on his knees, his chin on his clasped hands, his eyes fixed on the red grate. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- The ponderous bolts grated into place. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- Gravel grated beneath their feet, and about them was the transparent dimness of a midsummer night. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- The atrocious name grated harshly on my ear, too. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- The last word grated on me; but how could I remonstrate! Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- They both came to the door, and a chain grated, and a woman with her apron thrown over her face and head stood in the aperture. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- I don't care what becomes of me, and Laurie got up with a reckless laugh that grated on his grandfather's ear. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- I gave him time to return to his quarters, as Xodar said he probably would do, then I sprang to the grated window and surveyed the nearby waters. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- And he has had new grates put in, and a plate-glass window in the drawing-room. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- The eighteenth century did have its glowing grates, and its still more glowing furnaces of coal in which the ore was melted and by the light of which the castings were made. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Not up, I replied, for I noticed particularly that while the building is roofless it is covered with a strong metal grating. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- At the end of this line it is shaken out over a grating, and the sand handled in the same manner as on the smaller conveyors. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- The grating wind sawed rather than blew; and as it sawed, the sawdust whirled about the sawpit. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- The harsh grating noise of something heavy that he was moving unseen to me sounded for a moment, then ceased. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- These open-coil grills are also very efficient as toasters, the bread being placed on top of the grating, which protects the coils from injury. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Nor was it unwarranted: in five minutes more the grating key, the yielding lock, warned me my watch was relieved. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- More than I am likely to get anywhere, said Lydgate, with rather a grating sarcasm in his tone. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
Edited by Julius