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Grain vs Sheaf - What's the difference?

grain | sheaf |

As nouns the difference between grain and sheaf

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 sheaf is a quantity of the stalks and ears of wheat, rye, or other grain, bound together; a bundle of grain or straw.

As verbs the difference between grain and sheaf

is that grain is to feed grain to while sheaf is to gather and bind into a sheaf; to make into sheaves; as, to sheaf wheat.

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
    Related terms
    * coarse-grained * fine-grained * grosgrain * granary * granular * granularity * granulate * granulation
    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.

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    Anagrams

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    sheaf

    English

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • A quantity of the stalks and ears of wheat, rye, or other grain, bound together; a bundle of grain or straw.
  • * 1593 , (William Shakespeare), Titus Andronicus , Act V, Scene III, line 70:
    • O, let me teach you how to knit again / This scattered corn into one mutual sheaf , / These broken limbs again into one body.
  • * (rfdate) (John Dryden):
    • The reaper fills his greedy hands, / And binds the golden sheaves in brittle bands.
  • Any collection of things bound together; a bundle.
    • a sheaf of paper
  • A bundle of arrows sufficient to fill a quiver, or the allowance of each archer.
  • * (rfdate) (John Dryden):
    • The sheaf of arrows shook and rattled in the case.
  • A quantity of arrows, usually twenty-four.
  • * 1786 , Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons , page 34:
    • Arrows were anciently made of reeds, afterwards of cornel wood, and occasionally of every species of wood: but according to Roger Ascham, ash was best; arrows were reckoned by sheaves', a ' sheaf consisted of twenty-four arrows.
  • (mechanical) A sheave.
  • (mathematics) An abstract construct in topology that associates data to the open sets of a topological space, together with well-defined restrictions from larger to smaller open sets, subject to the condition that compatible data on overlapping open sets corresponds, via the restrictions, to a unique datum on the union of the open sets.
  • *

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To gather and bind into a sheaf; to make into sheaves; as, to sheaf wheat.
  • To collect and bind cut grain, or the like; to make sheaves.
  • * 1599 , William Shakespeare, As You Like It , Act III, Scene II, line 107:
    • They that reap must sheaf and bind; Then to cart with Rosalind.
    English nouns with irregular plurals