/ɡɹeɪt/
OriginFrom Middle English grate, from a Medieval Latin crāta, from a Latin word for a hurdle; or Italian grata, from Latin cratis.
- A horizontal metal grill through which liquid, ash, or small objects can fall, while larger objects cannot.
“The grate stopped the sheep from escaping from their field.”
“a secret grate of iron bars”
- A frame or bed, or kind of basket, of iron bars, for holding fuel while burning.
- historicalA grapper, a metal ring on a lance behind the grip.
“Lances (only shown at Stoke D'Abernon) were commonly made of ash, about 13 feet long. A ring of metal (grate or grapper) was fastened to the shaft and during a fight[…]”
“[…] and a heavy metal ring, called the grate or graper, fastened to the shaft below the grip. The grate rested against the knight's breastplate and relieved the hand and arm of the full shock of conta”
- transitiveTo furnish with grates; to protect with a grating or crossbars.
- transitiveTo shred (things, usually foodstuffs), by rubbing across a grater.
“I need to grate the cheese before the potato is cooked.”
- intransitiveTo make an unpleasant rasping sound, often as the result of rubbing against something.
“1856, Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part 3 Chapter X, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling
The gate suddenly grated. It was Lestiboudois; he came to fetch his spade, that he had forgotten. He recogni”
“The turmoil went on—no rest, no peace. […] It was nearly eleven o'clock now, and he strolled out again. In the little fair created by the costers' barrows the evening only seemed beginning; and the na”
“Listening to his teeth grate all day long drives me mad.”
- broadly, intransitiveTo get on one's nerves; to irritate, annoy.
“She’s nice enough, but she can begin to grate if there is no-one else to talk to.”
- broadly, transitiveTo annoy.
“2015, Art Levy in Florida Trend, Roland Martin is a Florida 'Icon'
one of the issues that's kind of grating me a little bit is weed control.”
“News, my good lord Rome […] grates me.”
- obsoleteServing to gratify; agreeable.
“Coho or Coffee[…]however ingrate or insapory it seems at first, it becomes grate and delicious enough by custom.”
Formsgrates(plural) · grates(present, singular, third-person) · grating(participle, present) · grated(participle, past) · grated(past) · more grate(comparative) · most grate(superlative)