Milton.
4. The unit of the English system of weights; -- so called because
considered equal to the average of grains taken from the middle of the
ears of wheat. 7,000 grains constitute the pound avoirdupois, and 5,760
grains the pound troy. A grain is equal to .0648 gram. See Gram.
5. A reddish dye made from the coccus insect, or kermes; hence, a red
color of any tint or hue, as crimson, scarlet, etc.; sometimes used by
the poets as equivalent to Tyrian purple.
All in a robe of darkest grain.
Milton.
Doing as the dyers do, who, having first dipped their silks in
colors of less value, then give' them the last tincture of crimson
in grain.
Quoted by Coleridge, preface to Aids to Reflection.
6. The composite particles of any substance; that arrangement of the
particles of any body which determines its comparative roughness or
hardness; texture; as, marble, sugar, sandstone, etc., of fine grain.
Hard box, and linden of a softer grain.
Dryden.
7. The direction, arrangement, or appearance of the fibers in wood, or
of the strata in stone, slate, etc.
Knots, by the conflux of meeting sap, Infect the sound pine and
divert his grain Tortive and errant from his course of growth.
Shak.
8. The fiber which forms the substance of wood or of any fibrous
material.
9. The hair side of a piece of leather, or the marking on that side.
Knight.
10. pl. The remains of grain, etc., after brewing or distillation;
hence, any residuum. Also called draff.
11. (Bot.) A rounded prominence on the back of a sepal, as in the
common dock. See Grained, a., 4.