| / English Dictionary |
GRATING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Optical device consisting of a surface with many parallel grooves in it; disperses a beam of light (or other electromagnetic radiation) into its wavelengths to produce its spectrum
Synonyms:
diffraction grating; grating
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("grating" is a kind of...):
optical device (a device for producing or controlling light)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "grating"):
echelon (a diffraction grating consisting of a pile of plates of equal thickness arranged stepwise with a constant offset)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A frame of iron bars to hold a fire
Synonyms:
grate; grating
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("grating" is a kind of...):
frame; framework (a structure supporting or containing something)
Holonyms ("grating" is a part of...):
furnace (an enclosed chamber in which heat is produced to heat buildings, destroy refuse, smelt or refine ores, etc.)
cooking stove; kitchen range; kitchen stove; range; stove (a kitchen appliance used for cooking food)
Derivation:
grate (furnish with a grate)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A barrier that has parallel or crossed bars blocking a passage but admitting air
Synonyms:
grate; grating
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("grating" is a kind of...):
barrier (a structure or object that impedes free movement)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "grating"):
grille; radiator grille (grating that admits cooling air to car's radiator)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Unpleasantly harsh or grating in sound
Example:
a gravelly voice
Synonyms:
grating; gravelly; rasping; raspy; rough; scratchy
Classified under:
Similar:
cacophonic; cacophonous (having an unpleasant sound)
III. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb grate
Context examples:
More was not expected by one who, while seeing all the obligation and expediency of submission and forbearance, saw also with sympathetic acuteness of feeling all that must be hourly grating to a girl like Susan.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Over a door in this wall was a board with SALEM HOUSE upon it; and through a grating in this door we were surveyed when we rang the bell by a surly face, which I found, on the door being opened, belonged to a stout man with a bull-neck, a wooden leg, overhanging temples, and his hair cut close all round his head.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses’ hoofs and grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the bell.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It made a queer, grating noise.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
I had the curiosity to inquire in a particular manner, by what methods great numbers had procured to themselves high titles of honour, and prodigious estates; and I confined my inquiry to a very modern period: however, without grating upon present times, because I would be sure to give no offence even to foreigners (for I hope the reader need not be told, that I do not in the least intend my own country, in what I say upon this occasion,) a great number of persons concerned were called up; and, upon a very slight examination, discovered such a scene of infamy, that I cannot reflect upon it without some seriousness.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
I gazed on it with gloom and pain: nothing soft, nothing sweet, nothing pitying, or hopeful, or subduing did it inspire; only a grating anguish for her woes—not my loss—and a sombre tearless dismay at the fearfulness of death in such a form.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Being in this disconsolate state, I heard, or at least thought I heard, some kind of grating noise on that side of my box where the staples were fixed; and soon after I began to fancy that the box was pulled or towed along the sea; for I now and then felt a sort of tugging, which made the waves rise near the tops of my windows, leaving me almost in the dark.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
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