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Grain vs Flour - What's the difference?

grain | flour |

As nouns the difference between grain and flour

is that grain is (uncountable) the harvested seeds of various grass-related food crops eg: wheat, corn, barley or grain can be a branch of a tree; a stalk or stem of a plant while flour is powder obtained by grinding or milling cereal grains, especially wheat, and used to bake bread, cakes, and pastry.

As verbs the difference between grain and flour

is that grain is to feed grain to while flour is to apply flour to something; to cover with flour.

grain

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) grain, grein, from (etyl) . Compare English corn.

Noun

  • (uncountable) The harvested seeds of various grass food crops eg: wheat, corn, barley.
  • We stored a thousand tons of grain for the winter.
  • (uncountable) Similar seeds from any food crop, eg buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa.
  • (countable) A single seed of grain.
  • a grain of wheat
  • (countable, uncountable) The crops from which grain is harvested.
  • The fields were planted with grain .
  • (uncountable) A linear texture of a material or surface.
  • Cut along the grain of the wood.
  • (countable) A single particle of a substance.
  • a grain of sand
    a grain of salt
  • (countable) A very small unit of weight, in England equal to 1/480 of an ounce troy, 0.0648 grams or, to be more exact, 64.79891 milligrams (0.002285714 avoirdupois ounce). A carat grain or pearl grain is 1/4 carat or 50 milligrams. The old French grain was 1/9216 livre or 53.11 milligrams, and in the mesures usuelles permitted from 1812 to 1839, with the livre redefined as 500 grams, it was 54.25 milligrams.
  • (countable) A former unit of gold purity, also known as carat grain , equal to "carat" (karat).
  • (materials) A region within a material having a single crystal structure or direction.
  • 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.
  • * Milton
  • all in a robe of darkest grain
  • * Quoted by Coleridge, preface to Aids to Reflection
  • doing as the dyers do, who, having first dipped their silks in colours of less value, then give them the last tincture of crimson in grain .
  • The hair side of a piece of leather, or the marking on that side.
  • (Knight)
  • (in the plural) The remains of grain, etc., after brewing or distillation; hence, any residuum. Also called
  • (botany) A rounded prominence on the back of a sepal, as in the common dock.
  • Temper; natural disposition; inclination.
  • * Hayward
  • brothers not united in grain
    Derived terms
    * against the grain * grain of salt
    See also
    * cereal

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To feed grain to.
  • To make granular; to form into grains.
  • To form grains, or to assume a granular form, as the result of crystallization; to granulate.
  • To texture a surface in imitation of the grain of a substance such as wood.
  • (tanning) To remove the hair or fat from a skin.
  • (tanning) To soften leather.
  • To yield fruit.
  • (Gower)

    Etymology 2

    See .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A branch of a tree; a stalk or stem of a plant.
  • A tine, prong, or fork.
  • # One of the branches of a valley or river.
  • # An iron fish spear or harpoon, with a number of points half-barbed inwardly.
  • #* 1770 : Served 5 lb of fish per man which was caught by striking with grains'' — journal of Stephen Forwood (gunner on ), 4 May 1770, quoted by Parkin (page 195).
  • # A blade of a sword, knife, etc.
  • (founding) A thin piece of metal, used in a mould to steady a core.
  • Anagrams

    * ----

    flour

    English

    Alternative forms

    * flower (obsolete)

    Noun

    (wikipedia flour) (en-noun)
  • Powder obtained by grinding or milling cereal grains, especially wheat, and used to bake bread, cakes, and pastry.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
  • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=Everything a living animal could do to destroy and to desecrate bed and walls had been done. […]  A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.}}
  • and certain bleaching agents.
  • Powder of other material.
  • wood flour , produced by sanding wood
    mustard flour
  • that nobody is wished to see my dead body. & that no murnurs walk behind me at my funeral. & that no flours be planted on my grave.'' — Thomas Hardy, ''The Mayor of Casterbridge .

    Synonyms

    * smeddum, plain flour, wheat flour, white flour

    Derived terms

    * self-raising flour, self-rising flour

    See also

    * bran * farina * meal * smeddum

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To apply flour to something; to cover with flour.
  • Anagrams

    * * 1000 English basic words ----