Grit

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɡɹɪt/
• Rhymes: -ɪt

With early modern vowel shortening, from Middle English grete, griet, from Old English grēot, from Proto-Germanic *greutą (compare German Grieß, Swedish gryta), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰr-eu-d- (compare Lithuanian grúodas ‘frost; frozen street dirt’, Serbo-Croatian grȕda ‘lump’).

Full definition of grit

Noun

1. Collection of hard small materials, such as dirt, ground stone, debris from sandblasting or other such grinding, swarf from metalworking.The flower beds were white with grit from sand blasting the flagstone walkways.
2. Inedible particles in food.Tastes like grit from nut shells in these cookies.
3. Firmness of mind; invincible spirit; unyielding courage or fearlessness; fortitude.That kid with the cast on his arm has the grit to play dodgeball.
4. A measure of relative coarseness of an abrasive material such as sandpaper.I need a sheet of 100 grit sandpaper.
5. (geology) A hard, coarse-grained siliceous sandstone; gritstone. Also, to a finer sharp-grained sandstone, e.g. grindstone grit.

Derived terms

• grits
• gritty

Related terms

• grind
• grindstone
• sand, sandy, sandblasting

Verb

1. To clench, particularly in reaction to pain or anger; apparently only appears in gritting one's teeth.We had no choice but to grit our teeth and get on with it.He has a sleeping disorder and grits his teeth.
2. To cover with grit.
3. To give forth a grating sound, like sand under the feet; to grate; to grind.
• GoldsmithThe sanded floor that grits beneath the tread.

Derived terms

• grit one's teeth

Middle English gryt ‘bran, chaff’, from Old English grytt, from Proto-Germanic *grutją ‘coarsely ground bits’ (compare Dutch grut, German Grütze), ablaut variant of Proto-Indo-European *gʰr-eu-d-. See above.

Noun

1. (usually in plural) husked but unground oats
2. (usually in plural) coarsely ground corn or hominy used as porridge

Related terms

• grout
• gruel

Anagrams

• girt
• trig