grind

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To crush, pulverize, or reduce to powder by friction, especially by rubbing between two hard surfaces: grind wheat into flour.
2. v. To shape, sharpen, or refine with friction: grind a lens.
3. v. To rub (two surfaces) together harshly; gnash: grind the teeth.
4. v. To bear down on harshly; crush.
5. v. To oppress or weaken gradually: "Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law” ( Oliver Goldsmith).
6. v. To operate by turning a crank: ground a hurdy-gurdy.
7. v. To produce or process by turning a crank: grinding a pound of beef.
8. v. To produce mechanically or without inspiration: The factory grinds out a uniform product.
9. v. To instill or teach by persistent repetition: ground the truth into their heads.
10. v. To perform the operation of grinding something.
11. v. To become crushed, pulverized, or powdered by friction.
12. v. To move with noisy friction; grate: a train grinding along rusty rails.
13. v. Informal To devote oneself to study or work: grinding for a test; grinding away at housework.
14. v. Slang To rotate the pelvis erotically, as in the manner of a stripteaser.
15. n. The act of grinding.
16. n. A crunching or grinding noise.
17. n. A specific grade or degree of pulverization, as of coffee beans: drip grind.
18. n. Informal A laborious task, routine, or study: the daily grind.
19. n. Informal A student who works or studies excessively.
20. n. Slang An erotic rotation of the pelvis.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To break and reduce to fine particles by pounding, crushing, or rubbing, as in a mill or a mortar, or with the teeth; bray; triturate: as, to grind corn.
2. To produce by grinding, or by action comparable to that of grinding: as, to grind flour; to grind out a tune on an organ.
3. To wear down, smooth, or sharpen by friction; give a smooth surface, edge, or point to, as by friction of a wheel or revolving stone; whet.
4. To grate or rub harshly together; grit.
5. To set in motion or operate, as by turning a crank: as, to grind a coffee-mill; to grind a hand-organ.
6. To oppress by severe exactions; afflict with hardship or cruelty.
7. To satirize severely; make a jest of.
8. To teach in a dull, laborious manner. A pack of humbugs and quacks, that weren't fit to get their living, but by grinding Latin and Greek. Thackeray.
9. To study or learn by close application or hard work; master laboriously: as, to grind out a problem.
10. To perform the act or operation of grinding, grating, or harshly rubbing; turn a mill, a grindstone, or some similar machine.
11. To be grated or rubbed together: as, the jaws grind.
12. To be ground or pulverized by pounding or rubbing: as, dry corn grinds fine.
13. To be polished or sharpened by friction: as, marble or steel grinds readily.
14. To perform tedious and distasteful work; drudge; especially, to study hard; prepare for examination by close application.
15. n. The act of grinding, or turning a mill, a grindstone, etc.
16. n. The sound of grinding or grating.
17. n. Hard or tedious and distasteful work; constant employment; especially, in college slang, laborious study; close application to study.
18. n. One who studies laboriously or with dogged application.
19. n. A piece of satire; a jest.
20. n. A satirist; an inveterate jester.
21. n. Nautical, a kink, half-turn, or twist in a rope.

Wiktionary

1. v. To make smaller by breaking with a device.
2. v. To cause to rub together.
3. v. To rotate the hips suggestively.
4. v. metalworking To remove material by rubbing with an abrasive surface.
5. v. sports To slide the flat portion of a skateboard or snowboard across an obstacle such as a railing.
6. v. video games To repeat a task in order to gain levels or items.
7. v. slang, Hawaii To eat.
8. n. The act of reducing to powder, or of sharpening, by friction.
9. n. A specific degree of pulverization of coffee beans.
10. n. A tedious task.
11. n. A grinding trick on a skateboard or snowboard.
12. n. archaic, slang One who studies hard; a swot.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. 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.
2. v. 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.
3. v. To oppress by severe exactions; to harass.
4. v. College Slang To study hard for examination; -- commonly used with away.
5. v. To perform the operation of grinding something; to turn the millstones.
6. v. To become ground or pulverized by friction.
7. v. To become polished or sharpened by friction
8. v. To move with much difficulty or friction; to grate.
9. v. To perform hard and distasteful service; to drudge; to study hard, as for an examination.
10. n. The act of reducing to powder, or of sharpening, by friction.
11. n. colloq. Any severe continuous work or occupation; esp., hard and uninteresting study.
12. n. College Slang A student that studies hard; a dig; a wonk.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. reduce to small pieces or particles by pounding or abrading
2. n. an insignificant student who is ridiculed as being affected or boringly studious
3. v. press or grind with a crushing noise
4. n. the grade of particle fineness to which a substance is ground
5. v. shape or form by grinding
6. v. created by grinding
7. n. hard monotonous routine work
8. n. the act of grinding to a powder or dust
9. v. make a grating or grinding sound by rubbing together
10. v. work hard
11. v. 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