grain

Dictionary: grain   (grān)

1. 1. A small, dry, one-seeded fruit of a cereal grass, having the fruit and the seed walls united: a single grain of wheat; gleaned the grains from the ground one at a time. Also called caryopsis.
   2. The fruits of cereal grasses especially after having been harvested, considered as a group: The grain was stored in a silo.
2. 1. A cereal grass: Wheat is a grain grown in Kansas.
   2. Cereal grasses considered as a group: Grain is grown along the river.
3. 1. A relatively small discrete particulate or crystalline mass: a grain of sand.
   2. A small amount or the smallest amount possible: hasn't a grain of sense.
4. Aerospace. A mass of solid propellant.
5. (Abbr. gr.) A unit of weight in the U.S. Customary System, an avoirdupois unit equal to 0.002285 ounce (0.065 gram).
6. The arrangement, direction, or pattern of the fibrous tissue in wood.
7. 1. The side of a hide or piece of leather from which the hair or fur has been removed.
   2. The pattern or markings on this side of leather.
8. The pattern produced, as in stone, by the arrangement of particulate constituents.
9. The relative size of the particles composing a substance or pattern: a coarse grain.
10. A painted, stamped, or printed design that imitates the pattern found in wood, leather, or stone.
11. The direction or texture of fibers in a woven fabric.
12. A state of fine crystallization.
13. 1. Basic temperament or nature; disposition.
    2. An essential quality or characteristic.
14. Archaic. Color; tint.

1. To cause to form into grains; granulate.
2. To paint, stamp, or print with a design imitating the grain of wood, leather, or stone.
3. To give a granular or rough texture to.
4. To remove the hair or fur from (hides) in preparation for tanning.

To form grains.

against the grain

1. Contrary to custom, one's inclination, or good sense.

1. With reservations; skeptically: Take that advice with a grain of salt.

[Middle English, from Old French graine, from Latin grānum.]

Photography:

1. Relative size of the particles forming a photographic image, expressed in terms of fine-grain or coarse-grain images.

2. Flaws in a photograph caused by excessive enlarging.

Printing: direction in which most fibers in paper run as a result of the papermaking process. Paper tears more easily with the grain than against the grain, and when the shape of paper is affected by moisture, or by a lack of humidity, it changes more in the direction of the grain. For some types of paper, folds made parallel to the grain will cause less damage to the paper and will be less bulky. Other types of paper must be folded against the grain.

The pages of a book or catalog turn more easily if the grain of every page runs parallel to the binding. However, advertisers often place bind-ins so that the grain of the bind-in crosses the binding, causing the magazine or catalog to tend to open at that point. This works especially well if the bind-in paper stock is heavier than that of the pages.

For offset printing, the grain should be parallel to the long edge of the printed image so that changes in the paper shape due to moisture will have less impact on the print register.

Many other rules apply to different types of paper and printing. Your printer or production manager should be consulted when choosing the appropriate paper for a job.

noun

A tiny amount: bit¹, crumb, dab¹, dash, dot, dram, drop, fragment, iota, jot, minim, mite, modicum, molecule, ort, ounce, particle, scrap¹, scruple, shred, smidgen, speck, tittle, trifle, whit. Chiefly British spot. See big/small/amount.

Symbol gr. Adverting to the seed of wheat, barley, etc., the grain is a long-standing elementary unit for measuring mass, and has been used for length too. In Britain the initial entity was the barleycorn, the seed grain of barley, specifically two-rowed barley.

mass The grain, originally the UK troy grain, is the common elemental unit of the avoirdupois, troy and apothecaries' scales in the UK and the USA. Defined originally by barley grains ‘neither small nor large and taken from the middle of the ear’
[Connor R. D. The Weights and Measures of England (London: HMSO, 1987)] the unit of modern times differed minutely between the UK and the USA until the agreed international standard
[Nature Vol. 183, 80-1 (1959)] was implemented in 1959 (though in UK not exclusively until 1964).

The grain was officially abolished for the UK in 1985.The UK Weights and Measures Act 1985 explicitly excluded from use for trade the bushell, cental, chain, drachm, dram, fluid drachm, furlong, grain, hundredweight, ounce apoth., peck, pennyweight, quarter, quintal, rood, scruple, stone, ton, the square mile, cubic inch, cubic foot, cubic yard, and the term ‘metric ton’. However, the legal status of the bushell, fluid drachm, and peck had been repealed, along with all apothecaries' units and troy units other than ounce, by Order in 1970. Besides the remaining BI units and the simple SI units, the Act included the kilometre, decimetre, centimetre and millimetre, the square metre, square decimetre, square centimetre and square millimetre, the hectare and decare along with the are, the cubic metre, cubic decimetre and cubic centimetre, the hectolitre decilitre, centilitre and millilitre, the tonne (or ‘metric tonne’), kilogram, hectogram, milligram and carat (metric). All had been included in the similar Act of 1963, but with some variation of name: -gram was -gramme, decare was dekare, the tonne appeared only as metric ton.

Internat, BI, US-C, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, etc., 1959 64.798 91 mg (0.323 994 55 metric carat of 200 mg). prev Within 0.01% of the above for centuries; see pound for details.

History

The avoirdupois scale (see ounce and hundredweight) has a pound of 7 000 grains = 16 oz of 437.5 gr; both the troy and the apothecaries' scales have an ounce of 480 grains, but a pound of only 12 ounces, giving 5 760 grains to the pound. The latter two scales differ in their intermediate subdivision. Comparative values across the three scales are shown in Table 21.

weight, force See gravitational system.

1. The direction, arrangement, or appearance of the fibers in wood, or the strata in stone, slate, etc.
2. The easiest cleavage direction in a stone.
3. Any small, hard particle, as of sand.
4. A unit of weight measure in the English system of units; 7,000 grains equals 1 lb; used as a measure of the weight of moisture in air.

Grain is a curious blend of the quantifiable and the subjective. It may even create an impression of more sharpness than exists: a grainy enlargement from 35 mm may look sharper than a grainless enlargement from a larger format. In conventional monochrome films, actual particles of silver make up the image; in colour films (and chromogenic monochrome films) dye clouds are formed in proportion to the silver halide image that is later bleached out.

Graininess can be quantified as granularity, using a microdensitometer trace, though differing methodologies limit the usefulness of comparison between the results achieved by different researchers: the only meaningful comparisons are between films tested under the same conditions, usually by the same laboratory. Granularity figures are normally expressed as root mean square (RMS) values of the density fluctuations over the trace.

Subjectively, some kinds of grain are simply more pleasing to the eye than others: ‘crisp’ (clearly defined) grain usually looks better than mushy. Both quantifiable and subjective qualities may be modified by film design; developer choice; exposure (more exposure means coarser grain, except with colour and chromogenic monochrome films); duration of development (more time means more grain); and agitation (more agitation means more grain).

Although grain and sharpness are related—slower films tend in general to be finer grained and sharper than faster ones—there is a trade-off between the two at any given speed: the sharpest films are rarely the finest grained, and vice versa. A slow, fine-grain film in a speed-increasing developer will normally give finer grain than a faster, coarser-grained film in a fine-grain developer.

— Roger W. Hicks

Bibliography

• also definition.
• Jacobsen, R. E. (ed.), The Manual of Photography (9th edn. 2000)

1. a seed, especially of a cereal plant; for best results in feeding the seed may be rolled, cracked, flaked (below).
2. the twentieth part of a scruple: 0.065 g; abbreviated gr.
3. the texture and patterned appearance of the outside of leather.
4. the size and nature of the crystals of the fluorescent salt used in intensifying screens and also the size and nature of silver halide crystals used in photographic emulsion.

• g. engorgement — see carbohydrate engorgement.
• flaked g. — grain that has been cooked and then rolled flat. The digestibility is greatly enhanced but the process is costly.
• g. fumigants — substances used to fumigate silos full of grain to kill insect pests. Use of these agents other than as recommended by the makers may lead to poisoning. See also methyl bromide.
• high-moisture g. — see moist grain storage.
• g. itch mites — see pediculoides ventricosus.
• micronized g. — heated in a dry heat then rolled.
• g. overload — see carbohydrate engorgement.
• popped g. — grain passed across a heated plate and popped like popcorn.
• g. rash — grain itch mite dermatitis.
• roasted g. — roasted in dry heat but not popped.
• g. screenings — debris from a grain batch that is removed by passing it over a screen. Has some feeding value but this varies with the mix of contents.
• g. sorghum — Sorghum bicolor (S. vulgare).
• spent g. — grain used in brewing or liquor production that has been exhausted of its carbohydrate; includes brewer's grains, distiller's grains.
• sprouted g. — see hydroponics.

To convert from grains to:

drams (avoirdupois), multiply by .03657143.
grains (avoirdupois), multiply by 1.
grams, multiply by .0648.
ounces (avoirdupois), multiply by .002286.
pennyweight (troy), multiply by .04167.

The direction, size, arrangement, appearance, or quality of the fibers in sawn wood. Straight grain is used to describe lumber where the fibers and other longitudinal elements run parallel to the axis of the piece.

Grain represents an opulent harvest and is often symbolic of a good life.

For other uses, see Grain (disambiguation).

In many cultures, a grain is a unit of measurement of mass that is based upon the mass of a single seed of a typical cereal. Historically, in Europe, the average masses of wheat and barley grain were used to define units of mass. Since 1958, the grain or troy grain (Symbol: gr) measure has been redefined on the basis of the unit of mass of the International System of Units as precisely 64.79891 milligrams.^[1][2] Thus, there are precisely 7,000 grains per avoirdupois pound in the Imperial and U.S. customary units. In fact, the grain is the only unit of mass measure common to the traditional three English mass and weight systems (avoirdupois, Apothecaries', troy). Moreover, the measure for pearls and diamonds—the pearl grain and the metric grain—are equal to ¹⁄₄ of a (metric) carat, i.e. 50 mg (0.77 gr).

Contents 1 Usage in North America 2 History 3 See also 4 References

Usage in North America

A box of .38 Special cartridges that have 148-grain bullets

The grain is used to measure the mass of bullets, gunpowder, and smokeless powder; it is the measure used by the balances used in handloading; bullets are measured in increments of one grain, gunpowder in increments of 0.1 grains.^[3] Moreover, the grain is used to weigh fencing equipment, including the foil. In archery, the grain is used to weigh arrows and arrow parts.

The grain is the most common unit used to measure the hardness of water. In particular it is used to quantitively describe the abundance of calcium Ca²⁺ and magnesium Mg²⁺ minerals in water. Typically, the measure is noted in grains per gallon (gpg). Water, untreated, typically can measure up to 100 gpg. This measure is critical to setting accurately that resin cation bead regeneration cycle perodicity of both sodium chloride brine and potassium chloride brine flushed water softeners.^{[clarification needed]}

The 5-grain aspirin. The back of a bottle of aspirin indicates that the dosage is "325 mg (5 gr)".

Grains are still used occasionally in medicine in the United States, especially in medical prescriptions, usually via the abbreviation "gr." For example, a regular tablet of aspirin is sometimes referred to as "five grain aspirin," or 325 mg. Grains are commonly used for medications that have been included in the United States Pharmacopeia for many decades, such as codeine, opium and phenobarbital combinations. For example, a prescription for tablets containing 325 mg of aspirin and 30 mg of codeine (brand name is Empirin with codeine), is written thus: "ASA gr. v c cod. gr. ss tablets," where "ASA" is short for aspirin (AcetylSalicylic Acid), "v" is the roman numeral for five, "c" is the abbreviation for "with" and "ss" stands for one-half. Likewise, a prescription for B&O Supprettes #15A, which is a compound medication containing belladonna alkaloids and opium, may be written: "Belladonna gr. 1/4 c opium gr ss", as B&O Supprettes #15A contain 16.2 mg (1/4 grain) of powdered belladonna and 30 mg (1/2 grain) of opium. Similarly, a prescription for 60 mg (1 grain) of phenobarbital is often written: "Phenobarb. gr. i". Formulations of these older medications (e.g., Donnatal, Phenobarbital, etc.), often use grains on the product label along with the metric equivalent. For example, Extended-Release Donnatal tablets contain ³⁄₄ grain (approximately 48.6 mg) of phenobarbital. Given the potential error in mistaking the abbreviations for "grains" and "grams" (gr and g, respectively), and for consistency with other medical orders, metric units are preferred to avoirdupois or apothecary units; hence, the use of grains in the medical profession is rapidly becoming outmoded.

Bottle of 1/4 grain phenobarbital tablets

Grains are also used in environmental permitting to quantify particulate emissions. Grains are used to measure the amount of moisture per cubic foot of air, a measure of absolute humidity.^[4]

History

carob seed	~200 mg
barley grain	~65 mg
wheat grain	~50 mg

At least since antiquity, grains of wheat or barley were used by Mediterranean traders to define units of mass; along with other seeds, especially those of the carob tree. According to a longstanding tradition, 1 carat (the mass of a carob seed) was equivalent to the weight of 4 wheat grains or 3 barleycorns.^[5] But since the weights of these seeds are highly variable, especially that of the cereals as a function of moisture, this is a convention more than an absolute law.^[6]

The history of the modern troy grain can be traced back to a royal decree in 13th century England:

By consent of the whole Realm the King's Measure was made, so that an English Penny, which is called the Sterling, round without clipping, shall weigh Thirty-two Grains of Wheat dry in the midst of the Ear; Twenty-pence make an Ounce; and Twelve Ounces make a Pound.
—Henry III of England^[6]

The traditional reading of this text is that it refers to the troy pound, and that the reference to sterling pennies is purely symbolic. According to a more recent reading, however, the pound in question is the Tower pound, and it talks about the actual mass of real sterling pennies.. The Tower pound, abolished in 1527, consisted of 12 ounces like the troy pound, but was ¹⁄₁₆ lighter. In any case, with both readings one needs to substitute 24 barley grains for the 32 wheat grains of the text, according to the general convention of a 4:3 equivalence, for it to make sense. The weight of the original sterling pennies was 22½ troy grains, or 24 "Tower grains" if the Tower pound was divided in the same way as the troy pound.^[6] Regardless of which pound this text originally referred to, a (troy) ounce still equals 20×24 = 480(troy) grains, and a pound consists of 12×20×24 = 5760 grains.

Originally the troy pound was only "the pound of Pence, Spices, Confections, as of Electuaries", and the merchants used different standards, which had to be compatible with those used abroad.^[6] One such standard, the avoirdupois pound, was later fixed officially at exactly 7000 troy grains. It consists of 16 avoirdupois ounces of 437½ troy grains each.^[1]

See also

• English unit
• Imperial unit
• United States customary units

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "NIST General Tables of Units of Measurement". United States government. http://ts.nist.gov/WeightsAndMeasures/Publications/upload/h4402_appenc.pdf. Retrieved on 2007-12-01. 
2. ^ Barbrow, L.E.; Judson, L.V. (1976). Weights and measures standards of the United States – A brief history. http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP447/contents.html. 
3. ^ "International Practical Shooting Confederation". IPSC Canada. January 4, 2004. http://www.ipsc-canada.org/exempt04.pdf. Retrieved on 2007-11-30. 
4. ^ "AA - AB Glossary". United States Department of the Interior. http://www.mms.gov/glossary/aa-ab.htm. Retrieved on 2007-12-01. 
5. ^ Ridgeway, William (1889). "Metrological notes (continued)". The Journal of Hellenic Studies 10: 90. doi:10.2307/623588. http://www.jstor.org/stable/view/623588. 
6. ^ ^{a b c d} Connor, R.D.; Simpson, A.D.C. (c2004). Weights and Measures in Scotland. East Linton. 

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - korn, kerne, gran, åre, narv, sind
v. tr. - marmorere, slibe, chaprinere, opkruse, krisple
v. intr. - krystallisere sig, danne krystaller, granulere, korne, korne sig

idioms:

• a grain of    et gran, spor af
• go against the grain    være imod
• grain alcohol    ætylalkohol
• whole grain    fuldkorn

Nederlands (Dutch)
graan(soort/ -korrel), greintje, korrelig/ruw oppervlak, structuur, nerf, weefsel, kruitlading (raket), natuur/aard, scharlaken, kleur, korrelen, marmeren, aderen, vlammen, scharlaken kleuren, huiden ontharen

Français (French)
n. - céréales, grain (de maïs, de blé), grain (de sable), (fig) brin, grain (dans le bois), veines (dans une pierre), grain (dans le cuir, le papier), (Phot) grain, (Mes) grain (= 0,0648 g)
v. tr. - veiner (du bois), grainer (du cuir, du papier), marbrer, veiner
v. intr. - grainer, graneler

idioms:

• a grain of    un grain de
• grain alcohol    alcool de grain
• not a grain of    pas un grain de
• whole grain    grain entier

Deutsch (German)
n. - Korn, Getreide, Gran, Maserung, Faserverlauf, Narbung
v. - masern, körnig machen, enthaaren

idioms:

• a grain of    ein Körnchen, ein Gran
• grain alcohol    Alkohol
• not a grain of    kein Fünkchen von
• whole grain    Vollkorn

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - κόκκος, σπυρί, δημητριακά, σιτηρά (κν. γεννήματα), "νερά" (κυματοειδείς αποχρώσεις) ξύλου ή υφάσματος, ψήγμα, (χαρακτηριστική) υφή, (μτφ.) μόριο, μικροποσότητα
v. - χονδροποιώ (μετατρέπω πυρίτιδα σε χόνδρους), προσδίδω κοκκώδη επιφάνεια (κν. σαγράρω)

idioms:

• a grain of    κόκκος
• go against the grain    πάω/πηγαίνω κόντρα στα νερά, είναι αντίθετα στη φύση μου
• grain alcohol    οινοπνευματώδες από δημητριακά
• whole grain    ολικής άλεσης

Italiano (Italian)
chicco, grano, venatura

idioms:

• a grain of    un pizzico di
• go against the grain    fare a malincuore
• whole grain    grano grezzo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - grão (m), cereal (m), lado (m) do pelo (em couro), fibra (f), parcela (f) mínima
v. - granular(-se), amaciar (couro), depilar (couro)

idioms:

• a grain of    um grão de
• go against the grain    a contrapelo, a contragosto
• whole grain    cereal integral

Русский (Russian)
зерно (хлебные злаки), песчинка, крупа, гран (0,0648 г), зернистость, волокно, структура, раздроблять, придавать зернистую поверхность

idioms:

• a grain of    крупица чего-л.
• go against the grain    противоречить естественному порядку вещей, действовать вразрез со своими наклонностями
• whole grain    цельнозернистый

Español (Spanish)
n. - grano, cereales, veta, fibra
v. tr. - granular, convertir en granos, alimentar con granos a los animales
v. intr. - granular, convertir en granos, alimentar con granos a los animales

idioms:

• a grain of    una pizca de, un poco de
• grain alcohol    alcohol de grano
• not a grain of    ni pizca de
• whole grain    integral, grano o cereales integrales

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - ljuster, korn, gryn, frö, gnutta, gran (minsta eng. vikt), (ytas) kornighet, purpurfärg (hist.)
v. - göra kornig, narva (läder), ådra (mål.), marmorera (mål.), korna sig

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
谷物, 谷粒, 谷类, 使成粒状, 对粒面进行处理, 使深深渗入, 成粒状, 结晶

idioms:

• a grain of    一粒..., 一颗...
• go against the grain    违反某人的意愿, 格格不入
• grain alcohol    酒精, 乙醇
• whole grain    全麦

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 穀物, 穀粒, 穀類
v. tr. - 使成粒狀, 對粒面進行處理, 使深深滲入
v. intr. - 成粒狀, 結晶

idioms:

• a grain of    一粒..., 一顆...
• go against the grain    違反某人的意願, 格格不入
• grain alcohol    酒精, 乙醇
• whole grain    全麥

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 곡류, 낟알, 소량, (나무, 돌 등의) 결
v. tr. - 낟알로 만들다, 거죽을 울퉁불퉁하게 하다, 털을 없애다, (빛깔을) 물들이다
v. intr. - 낟알 모양으로 되다

idioms:

• a grain of    한 알의
• go against the grain    본심과는 달리

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 穀物, 穀粒, 粒, 木目, 繊維, ごくわずか, グレーン, 微塵, 性質
v. - 粒にする

idioms:

• a grain of    ほんの少し, 微塵の
• grain alcohol    グレインアルコール

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) حبه, حبوب, ذرة, مقدار ضئيل (فعل) يحبب, يبلر, ينزع الشعر عن الجلد‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮גרגיר, קורטוב, אורז, תבואה, גרעין, דגן, גוון, מידת משקל זעירה - 8460.0 גרם, מערך הסיבים, הכמות הקטנה ביותר האפשרית, מרקם העור, גביש קטן נסתר בסלע או במתכת, חיספוס של פני שטח, טבעת (עץ) שנתית‬
v. tr. - ‮עשה לגרעינים, סילק שיער מ(עורות), נתן גוון לגרעינים‬
v. intr. - ‮יצר גרעינים‬

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