▪ I. engrain, ingrain, v.
(ɛn-, ɪnˈgreɪn)
Also 4 engreyne, 6 engrene.
[f. en-1, in- + grain.
Palsgr. 1530 gives a Fr. engrainer to dye. The word, whether first formed in Fr. or Eng., was suggested by the Fr. phrase en graine (adapted in Eng. as in grain) where graine means the cochineal dye. Hence to engrain and to dye in grain meant originally to dye with cochineal, and subsequently to dye in any fast colour. But afterwards they came to be associated with the word grain, a. Fr. grain, the ‘fibre’ or minute structure of a thing; so that in mod. use ‘to dye in (the) grain’ means to impregnate the very substance of the material with the dye, to dye the wool before it is woven; and the present senses of the vb. engrain have distinct reference to grain ‘minute structure.’ On the whole the form engrain is now preferred to ingrain; see however the note on engrained ppl. a.]
† 1. trans. To dye scarlet or crimson with cochineal; hence, to dye in fast colours, dye in grain. Also transf. and fig. Obs. or arch.
Already regarded as an archaism in Spenser's time, as the glossary to Shep. Cal. explains engrained by ‘dyed in grain.’
| α 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. ii. 15 Hire robe was ful riche of red scarlet engreyned. 1465 Mann. & Househ. Exp. 162 Fyne crymysyne engreyned. 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) 264, I delyuered my clothes engrened to Mayster Foster. 1532–3 Act 24 Hen. VIII, c. 13 Clothe of the colours of scarlet, crimosen, or violet engrayned. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Feb. 131 With Leaues engrained in lusty greene. 1591 ― Virgils Gnat 666 The Rose engrained in pure scarlet die. 1596 C. Fitzgeffrey Sir F. Drake (1881) 35 His worth in honours purest dye engraine. |
| β 1561 J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 144 b They shall not be clothed in soft or precious apparell, as veluet, sattin, or damaske, or crimosine ingrayned but in sacke⁓cloth. 1597 Daniel Civ. Wares ii. cxvii, Our fields ingrayn'd with blood. 1607 Topsell Serpents (1653) 695 A colour in-grained with the dung of a Crocodile. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 171 It being true blew Gotham or Hobbes ingrain'd. 1855 Singleton Virgil I. 163 Milesian wools..ingrained With Tyrian crimsons. |
2. To cause (a dye) to sink into the texture of a fabric; to work (a foreign substance) into the ‘fibre’, the intimate structure of anything. Chiefly fig. to implant ineradicably (habits, convictions, prejudices, tastes) in a person.
| α a 1641 Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Monum. (1642) 129 When the spots are engrained, and will not out by scouring, etc. 1820 Scott Ivanhoe xxxv, The stain hath become engrained by time and consuetude. a 1862 Buckle Civiliz. (1873) III. i. 43 With such force had the circumstance just narrated engrained superstition in the Scotch character. 1862 Max Müller Chips (1880) I. ix. 184 The feeling..is so deeply engrained in human nature. |
| β 1746–7 Hervey Medit. (1818) 42 Evil habits..thoroughly ingrained in the disposition. 1878 N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 20 This republicanism the Talmudists have ingrained in him. |
3. In pass.: To be indelibly marked with.
| 1863 Baring-Gould Iceland 160 A post very old, and ingrained with filth. |
4. † a. To give a certain kind of texture to (obs. rare—1). b. nonce-use. To form a granular surface on (the skin).
| 1593 Nashe Christ's T. (1613) 147 She was wont in Asses milke to bathe her, to engraine her skin more gentle, plyant, delicate and supple. 1862 Burton Bk.-Hunter 32 The countless little wrinkles which engrained his skin. |
▪ II. † enˈgrain, v.2 Obs. rare—1.
[ad. F. engrener, f. en- (see en- prefix1) + grain lit. ‘grain’.]
intr. Of a toothed wheel, etc.: To fit into a corresponding toothed piece of machinery.
| a 1774 Goldsmith Exper. Philos. (1776) II. 52 By means of the toothed wheel F engraining in the toothed rack Dd. |