<p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>a small, hard seed, especially the seed of a food plant such as wheat, corn, rye, oats, rice, or millet.</li><li>the gathered seed of food plants, especially of cereal plants.</li><li>such plants collectively.</li><li>any small, hard particle, as of sand, gold, pepper, or gunpowder.</li><li>the smallest unit of weight in most systems, originally determined by the weight of a plump grain of wheat.</li><li>the smallest possible amount of anything: a grain of truth.</li><li>the arrangement or direction of fibers in wood, or the pattern resulting from this.</li><li>the direction in which the fibers of a piece of dressed wood, as a board, rise to the surface.</li><li>the side of leather from which the hair has been removed.</li><li>a stamped pattern that imitates the natural grain of leather: used either on leather to simulate a different type of natural leather, or on coated cloth.</li><li>the fibers or yarn in a piece of fabric as differentiated from the fabric itself.</li><li>the direction of threads in a woven fabric in relation to the selvage.</li><li>the lamination or cleavage of stone, coal, etc.</li><li>any of the individual crystalline particles forming a metal.</li><li>a unit of weight equal to 50 milligrams or ¼ carat, used for pearls and sometimes for diamonds.</li><li>the size of constituent particles of any substance; texture: sugar of fine grain.</li><li>a granular texture or appearance: a stone of coarse grain.</li><li>a state of crystallization: boiled to the grain.</li><li>temper or natural character: two brothers of similar grain.</li><li>a unit of solid propellant.</li><li>color or hue.</li></ul><p><strong>Verb</strong></p><ul><li>to form into grains; granulate.</li><li>to give a granular appearance to.</li><li>to paint in imitation of the grain of wood, stone, etc.: metal doors grained to resemble oak.</li><li>to feed grain to (an animal).</li><li>to remove the hair from (skins).</li><li>to soften and raise the grain of (leather).</li></ul>