grit

== English == === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ɡɹɪt/ Rhymes: -ɪt === Etymology 1 === With early modern vowel shortening, from Middle English grete, griet, from Old English grēot, from Proto-West Germanic *greut, from Proto-Germanic *greutą. Compare grist. ==== Noun ==== grit (uncountable) A collection of hard small materials, such as dirt, ground stone, debris from sandblasting or other such grinding, or swarf from metalworking. Sand or a sand–salt mixture spread on wet and, especially, icy roads and footpaths to improve traction. Small, hard, inedible particles in food. A measure of the size of abrasive grains, such as those on sandpaper, and thus their relative coarseness or fineness; the smaller the number, the coarser the abrasive: thus, 60 is rough, 600 is fine, and 3000 is ultrafine. (geology) A hard, coarse-grained siliceous sandstone; gritstone. Also, a finer sharp-grained sandstone, e.g., grindstone grit. (idiomatic) Strength of mind; courage or fearlessness; fortitude. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Related terms ===== grind grindstone sand, sandy, sandblasting ===== Translations ===== ===== See also ===== debris mortar and pestle swarf ==== Verb ==== grit (third-person singular simple present grits, present participle gritting, simple past and past participle gritted or (nonstandard) grit) (transitive, ergative) To clench (one's teeth), particularly in reaction to pain or anger. To cover with grit. (obsolete, intransitive) To give forth a grating sound, like sand under the feet; to grate; to grind. ===== Derived terms ===== grit one's teeth (regrit) ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 2 === From Middle English *gryt (“bran, chaff”), from Old English grytt, from Proto-West Germanic *gruti (“coarsely ground bits”), ablaut variant of Proto-Indo-European *gʰrewd-. See above. Doublet of goetta. ==== Noun ==== grit (plural grits) (usually in the plural) Husked but unground oats. (usually in the plural) Coarsely ground corn or hominy used as porridge. grits and eggs;   ham and grits ===== Related terms ===== groat grout gruel ===== Translations ===== === Anagrams === girt, trig == Elfdalian == === Verb === grit first/second/third-person singular past indicative of gråta == Scots == === Etymology === See great === Adjective === grit (comparative mair grit, superlative maist grit) great