▪ I. grama1, gramma
(ˈgrɑːmə, ˈgræmə)
See gama grass.
[a. Sp. grama a sort of grass.]
A name for several low pasture grasses abundant in the western and south-western United States, esp. Bouteloua oligostachya.
| 1844 J. Gregg Commerce of Prairies I. 160 A highly nutritious grass called grama. 1851 Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xix, Our horses refreshed themselves on the ‘grama’ that grew luxuriantly around. |
| attrib. and Comb. 1828 A. Wetmore Diary 28 July in U.S. Senate 22nd Congress 1st Sess. Doc. 90 (1832) 39 Our mules have been recently much benefitted by the gramme grass, the best pasturage between the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. 1851 Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xxvi. 194 There the grama grass is longer and more luxuriant. 1887 F. Francis Jr. Saddle & Mocassin xii. 230 The dry crowsfoot gramma grass that clothed the country. Ibid. xiii. 249 The gramma-carpeted foot-hills and plateaux of the Sierra Madre. |
▪ II. grama2
(ˈgrɑːmə)
[Skr. grāma.]
A scale used in Indian music.
| 1807 J. D. Paterson in Asiatick Researches IX. 446 (title) On the Grámas or Musical Scales of the Hindus. Ibid. 457 The scale is denominated Gráma (literally village) because there is in it the assemblage of all the notes. 1891 C. R. Day Mus. & Musical Instr. S. India ii. 15 The srutis are differently arranged in grâmas, or scales, three in number. 1913 E. Clements Introd. Study Indian Mus. i. 2 First came the Grâmas, which may be regarded as collections of notes definitely related to one another by musical intervals. 1954 Grove's Dict. Mus. (ed. 5) IV. 456/2 Grâma means ‘village’ and thus ‘scale’ or ‘collection of notes’. 1968 Indian Mus. Jrnl. V. 49 The whole framework of grāma and its adjuncts was evolved on the basis of the actual musical practice that had crystallised as Jāti-s. |