Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Topic: TECHNOLOGY

Language: Old English
Origin: grindan

grind

1 verb
     
grind1 past tense and past participle ground
1

into small pieces

[transitive]
a) also grind up to break something such as corn or coffee beans into small pieces or powder, either in a machine or between two hard surfaces:
b) American EnglishDFC to cut food, especially raw meat, into very small pieces by putting it through a machine [= mince British English]
ground beef
2

smooth/sharp

[transitive]T to make something smooth or sharp by rubbing it on a hard surface or by using a machine:
a stone for grinding knives and scissors
The lenses are ground to a high standard of precision.
3

press

a) [transitive always + adverb/preposition] to press something onto a surface and rub it with a strong twisting movement
grind something into something
He dropped a cigar butt and ground it into the carpet with his heel.
He ground out his cigarette on the window ledge.
b) [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] to press hard against something
grind against/together
as these plates (=large areas of land) grind against each other
4

grind your teeth

to rub your upper and lower teeth together, making a noise
5

grind to a halt

a) if a vehicle grinds to a halt, it stops gradually:
Traffic ground to a halt as it approached the accident site.
b) if a country, organization, or process grinds to a halt, its activity or the process gradually stops:
After two days the talks had ground to a halt.
6

perform a movement

to perform a special movement in skateboarding or rollerblading, which involves moving sideways along the edge of something, so that the bar connecting the wheels of the skateboard or rollerblade presses hard against the edge

➔ have an axe to grind

at axe1 (4)

grind somebody ↔ down

phrasal verb
to treat someone in a cruel way for such a long time that they lose all courage and hope [= oppress]:
I've never let male colleagues grind me down.

grind on

phrasal verb
to continue for an unpleasantly long time:
As the negotiations grind on, time is passing towards the deadline.

grind something ↔ out

phrasal verb
1 to produce information, writing, music etc in such large amounts that it becomes boring [= churn out]:
Frank just keeps grinding out detective stories.
2 written to say something in a rough, angry, or emotional way:
'You don't love him,' he ground out.
Definition of grind from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English within
the topic TECHNOLOGY
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