grind
grind
verb (grinds, ground, ground, grinding)
/ɡraɪnd/
food/flour/coffee
1 transitive grind something (down/up) | grind something (to/into something) to break or press something into very small pieces between two hard surfaces or using a special machine
to grind coffee/corn
The animal has teeth that grind its food into a pulp.
The cement need not be finely ground.
The coffee is ground to a fine powder.
freshly ground black pepper
machinery for grinding wheat into flour
SEE ALSO ground
TOPICS Cooking and eating C1
Collocations Dictionary
adverb
coarsely
finely
down
preposition
into
to
phrases
freshly ground
2 ​transitive grind something to produce something such as flour by grinding
The flour is ground using traditional methods.
3 ​(North American English) (also mince British and North American English) transitive grind something to cut food, especially meat, into very small pieces using a special machine (called a mincer)
make sharp/smooth
4 ​transitive grind something to make something sharp or smooth by rubbing it against a hard surface
a special stone for grinding knives
press into surface
5 ​transitive to press or rub something into a surface
grind something into something He ground his cigarette into the ashtray.
grind something in The dirt on her hands was ground in.
rub together
6 ​intransitive, transitive to rub together, or to make hard objects rub together, often producing an unpleasant noise
grind (together) Parts of the machine were grinding together noisily.
grind something (together) She grinds her teeth when she is asleep.
He ground the gears on the car.
machine
7 ​transitive grind something to turn the handle of a machine that grinds something
to grind a pepper mill
Idioms
bring something to a grinding halt
grind to a halt | come to a grinding halt
have an axe to grind
Phrasal Verbs
grind down
grind on
grind out
Word Origin
Old English grindan, probably of Germanic origin. Although no cognates are known, it may be distantly related to Latin frendere ‘rub away, gnash’.