▪ I. grating, vbl. n.1
(ˈgreɪtɪŋ)
[f. grate v.1 + -ing1.]
The action of the verb grate.
1. The action of breaking into small particles by rasping or rubbing; also, the product of this.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 207/2 Gratynge of brede, micacio. Ibid., Gratynge of gyngure, and oþer lyke, frictura. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Lemon tree, Mix some Gratings of Lemon therewith. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxxi. 434, I have to give him a grating of potatoes. |
2. The action of rubbing harshly against something; hence, the discordant sound made by this.
| 1611 Florio, Grattalice, a grating, a scraping. 1626 Bacon Sylva §275 The grateing of a Saw when it is sharpned..setteth the Teeth on edge. 1657 W. Morice Coena quasi κοινὴ Pref. 22 If my stile seeme to be keene and peircing..they have sharpned it by hard grating. 1760 Young in Phil. Trans. LI. 847 The grating, that is always to be felt, when the two broken ends of a bone are moved against one another. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. ii. xiii, The grating of his chain. 1842 F. Trollope Visit Italy II. xiii. 231 The ear almost fancies it can catch the grating of a Roman chariot wheel. 1894 Crockett Raiders 122 The grating of the oars of the boat against the sides of the cave. |
3. fig. Irritation, fretting, harassing. (See grate v.1 3 and 4.)
| a 1716 South Serm. XI. i. 26 The difficulties, the hard grating, and afflicting contrariety that bears to the flesh. |
▪ II. grating, vbl. n.2
(ˈgreɪtɪŋ)
[f. grate n.1 and v.2 + -ing1.]
1. The action of grate v.2 rare.
| 1611 Cotgr., Grillement..also a grating, or shutting vp with grates. |
2. a. A framework of wooden or metal bars; a piece of cross-barred work; = grate n.1 1, 2.
| 1739 C. Labelye Short Acc. Piers Westm. Bridge 14 The Foundation of every Pier should be laid on a strong Grating of Timber. 1769–80 Falconer Dict. Marine, Grating, a drain whereon to lay new tarred cordage. 1810 Hull Improv. Act 34 Drains gutters sinks or watercourses, grates or gratings. 1873 Act 36 & 37 Vict. c. 71 §39 Gratings shall be placed..across the head and tail race of mills. 1874 Helps Soc. Press. iii. (1875) 39 A stench..came up through all the neighbouring gratings. |
b. esp. Naut. The open wood-work cover for the hatchway.
| 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Sea-men 14 A grating, netting or false decke for your close fights. 1711 W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 43 As many Gratings as can possibly..be placed for causing Lights on the Plan below, as also to give vent to the Smoke of Powder in Time of Service. 1828 P. Cunningham N.S. Wales (ed. 3) II. 204 Looking down through the main-hatchway gratings. 1873 Act 36 & 37 Vict. c. 88 Sched. i, Hatches with open gratings, instead of the close hatches which are usual in merchant vessels. |
c. The perforated plate used for separating large from small ore; also, the process of sorting ore with grates.
| 1869 R. B. Smyth Goldf. Victoria 612 Grating, a piece of thin sheet-iron, in which about 100 holes..to the square inch are punched. It is fixed in front of the stamper-box. |
† 3. A scoring or ruling of a surface. Obs.
| 1678 Moxon Mech. Exerc. I. 71 You will quickly wear the courser grating of the Grind stone off the edge on that side. |
4. Optics. An arrangement of parallel wires in a plane, or a surface of glass or polished metal ruled with a series of very close fine parallel lines, designed to produce spectra by diffraction.
| 1877 G. F. Chambers Astron. x. iii. (ed. 3) 847 A diffraction grating, that is, a piece of glass ruled with very fine close lines. 1882 Tait in Encycl. Brit. XIV. 607/2 Let us next consider the effect of a grating, a series of parallel wires placed at small equal intervals, or a piece of glass or of speculum metal on which a series of equidistant parallel lines have been ruled by a diamond point. 1893 Sir R. Ball Story of Sun 109 He was able to rule a grating..with as many as 43,000 lines to the inch. |
5. attrib. and Comb., as grating-bar, grating-constant, grating-iron, grating photograph, grating space, grating spectrometer; grating-deck (see quot. 1867); grating spectrum, a diffraction spectrum produced by a grating.
| 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 33/2 Without greate paynes we can not fasten theron with the grating iron. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Grating-deck, a light movable deck, similar to the hatch-deck, but with open gratings. 1897 P. Warung Tales Old Regime 97 The man who filed away the grating-bars would be first out of the shaft. 1926 R. W. Lawson tr. Hevesy & Paneth's Man. Radioactivity iv. 44 The grating space of a Rowland grating is about 10–4 cm. 1938 Ibid. (ed. 2) iv. 49 The ‘grating constant’ is here the distance between two adjacent lattice planes in the crystal. 1941 Nature 24 May 643/2 The spectrum was obtained from a discharge tube of the type described by Pearse and Gaydon, and grating photographs were taken (dispersions 2·6 and 1·9 A./mm.) in the region λλ 6400–4900. 1963 G. Troup Masers & Lasers (ed. 2) viii. 149 The fluorescent light emitted from the ends and from the sides was examined, using a grating spectrometer capable of resolving the R1 and R2 lines. |
▪ III. grating, ppl. a.
(ˈgreɪtɪŋ)
[f. grate v.1 + -ing2.]
That grates, in senses of the vb.
1. Abrading, rasping; affecting painfully, as if by abrasion; irritating, fretting, ‘wearing’.
| 1563 B. Googe Eglogs, etc. (Arb.) 85 In Countreye growes, no gratynge grudge. 1611 Florio, Grattugina, a grating trull. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §44 The grating torture of a disease. 1643 J. Burroughes Exp. Hosea v. (1652) 251. I have a grating conscience within me. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 225 ¶2 A Man is allowed to say the most grating Thing imaginable to another. 1720 Waterland Vind. Christ's Divinity xv. 222 Those Positions..were too grating upon, and too shocking to every pious Christian at that Time. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) VIII. xix. vii. 186 The yoke of obedience and submission always grating to kings. 1766 Gent. Mag. Feb. 72/2 Its skin was rough, scaly, and grating, like that of a sea-dog or seal. 1798 Malthus Popul. (1806) I. i. ii. 17 Reduced to the grating necessity of forfeiting his independence. 1858 Lytton What will he do i. iv, Pride is a garment all stiff brocade outside, all grating sackcloth on the side next to the skin. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. vi. xlv, This speech was grating to Deronda. |
† 2. Of persons, their qualities, etc.: Grinding, oppressive. Obs.
| 1653 Holcroft Procopius Pref. A ij b, He severely indites..Tribonianus the Questor of grating avarice. 1673 Essex Papers (Camden) 83 In all his Majesties 3 Kingdomes, there lives not a more grating man than S{supr} Will{supm} Petty. |
3. That makes a grinding or creaking sound, as of two rough bodies grating together; hence, sounding harsh or discordant.
| 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Lady Rich 10 Oct., Their music at the opera..was abominably grating. 1756 Burke Subl. & B. i. ii, Suppose..a man..to have his ears wounded with some harsh and grating sound. 1803 J. Leyden Scenes of Infancy i. 67 The Scythed Car on grating axle rings. 1886 Hall Caine Son of Hagar i. Prol., The ghastly face answered ill to the grating laugh that followed. |
Hence ˈgratingly adv.
| 1683 Kennett tr. Erasm. on Folly 56 The mind is freed from those cares, which would otherwise gratingly afflict it. 1857 Chamb. Jrnl. VII. 199 Fiendish laughter, gratingly, piercingly loud. 1873 Masson Drumm. of Hawth. vi. 107 It does come a little gratingly in the context of the inter⁓changed letters. |