▪ I. grate, n.1
(greɪt)
Also 6 gratte.
[app. a. med.L. grata (? used in monastic Latin for a lattice), ad. It. grata grate, gridiron, hurdle, alteration of grate:—L. crātem, crātis hurdle. (Godef. has one example of OF. grate with the sense ‘hurdle’, which may be from monastic Latin.)]
1. A framework of bars or laths, parallel to or crossing each other, fixed in a door, window, or other opening, to permit communication while preventing ingress. Now somewhat rare; cf. grating vbl. n.2
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 207/2 Grate, or trelys wy(n)dowe..cancellus. 1523 [see sense 9]. 1530 Palsgr. 227/1 Grate of a windowe, trelis de fer. 1535 Coverdale 2 Kings i. 2 Ochosias fell thorow y⊇ grate in his chamber at Samaria. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. viii. 36 But in the same [doore] a little grate was pight, Through which he sent his voyce. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. ii. iii. Wks. 1856 I. 99 Antonio kisseth Mellida's hand: then Mellida goes from the grate. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 190 At present there is no more but a Window with a Grate. 1697 Congreve Mourning Bride i. i, While his jailor slept, I through the grate Have softly whispered and inquired his health. 1716 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Lady X., 1 Oct., The young Count of Salmes came to the grate.. and the Abbess gave him her hand to kiss. 1778 Foote Trip Calais ii. Wks. 1799 II. 354 The father and mother of that amiable child are now at the grate. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. i. Introd. ii, The embattled portal-arch he pass'd, Whose ponderous grate and massy bar Had oft roll'd back the tide of war. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. i. v, The grate which led to our quarter opened anew. |
2. A similar framework (or, sometimes, a perforated plate) for other purposes, esp. for closing an orifice without intercepting the passage of fluids; rarely, † a gridiron.
| 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. xi, Voydyng fylthes lowe into the grounde Thorough grates made of yron perced round. 1718 Steele Fish Pool 168 Great advantage is effected by large grates at the head and stern..of the vessel. 1750 [see grate-iron in 10 below]. 1755 Johnson, Grill, to broil on a grate or gridiron. 1825 T. Cosnett Footman's Directory 62 If the spout of the tea-pot gets furred up, have a small piece of wire or wood to push up and down it, but be careful not to break the grate of it in so doing. |
† 3. The railing round a monument, building, etc.
| a 1400 Stacyons of Rome 603 in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems 136 A-bowte that stoone a grate there is of Irne. 1519 in Glasscock Rec. St. Michael's (1882) 36 Item pd to Rase Thomas for dygyng of the holis for the grate iiijd. Ibid., Item to Jardefeld for tymber for the chirche grate..Item to Hothe the Carponter for makyng of the tymber werke at the south gate and grate of the chirche yerd. a 1645 Habington in Proc. Worc. Hist. Soc. ii. 223 The grate of iron inclosinge the tombe. 1872 O. Shipley Gloss. Eccl. Terms, Grate, an ornamental iron screen around a monument. |
4. A frame of metal bars for holding the fuel in a fireplace or furnace. Hence, the fireplace itself.
| 1605 Timme Quersit. iii. 191 A grate shall be layed, wherein the coales of fire must lie. 1608 A. Willet Hexapla in Exod. 614 The wood was laid in order vpon that grate, and so burned, which grate was all of brasse. 1611 Bible Exod. xxvii. 4. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 308 ¶2 An old-fashioned Grate consumes Coals, but gives no Heat. 1779 Boswell in Life Johnson 10 Oct., Why, Sir, do people play this trick which I observe now, when I look at your grate, putting the shovel against it to make the fire burn? 1800 tr. Lagrange's Chem. I. 97 You must make it pass through the grate of the furnace. 1848 Dickens Dombey vi, Throw those shoes under the grate. 1875 J. Smith Temperance Reform. iii. 96 The cold and cheerless grate. |
† 5. transf. a. (See quot.) Cf. grating vbl. n. 3. b. Applied to the chequers on the door-post of a tavern. Obs.
| 1598 R. Haydocke tr. Lomazzo's Tracte Artes, etc. II. v. xxiv. 217 The third part is wrought with a Grate [marg. Which is an instrument made with crossing of lines], or insteede thereof with a glasse set betweene the eie of the Painter, and the thing seene. 1622 Massinger & Dekker Virgin Martyr iii. iii, I see then a tavern and a bawdy-house have faces much alike; the one hath red grates next the door, the other hath peeping-holes within doors. |
6. Mining. A screen used when stamping ores.
| 1776 W. Pryce Min. Cornub. Expl. Terms, Grate, an iron plate punched full of small holes; which belongs to the stamping mill, and sizes the stampt Ore. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 749 The grate..is a grid composed of square bars of iron..placed horizontally, and parallelly to each other, an inch apart. 1875 Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 7) II. 736 Grate,..a metal plate pierced with small holes; it is fixed in front of the stamps in which ore is pounded, and through the holes the finely divided matter makes its escape. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Grate..See Screen (as applied to stamps). |
† 7. A barred place of confinement for animals, also, a prison or cage for human beings. Obs.
| 1552 in Glasscock Rec. St. Michael's (1882) 93 Of the Mayor and burges for the gaol called the grate p{supr} a{supm} xijd. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. ii. ii. 8 Else you had look'd through the grate, like a Geminy of Baboones. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1638) 220 Shut vp in an yron cage made like a grate, in such sort as that he might on euery side be seen. 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God xii. xxvi. (1620) 443 These gods..are but the forgers of our prisons..our iaylors, locking vs in those dolorous grates and wretched fetters. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage iv. v. 365 Lions and Leopards in grates were carried before him. 1652 Benlowes Theoph. xiii. lxxxiii. 247 The folded flocks are pent In hurdled Grates. 1759 Johnson Rasselas v, He was now impatient as an eagle in a grate. 1777 Howard Prisons Eng. (1780) 287 Every debtor that lies in the common grate. |
† 8. One of the spaces between the bars of a grating. Obs. rare.
| 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xxxix. 53 He Caused to be made without the towne, a barrers ouerthwart the strete lyke a grate, nat past half a fote wyde euery grate. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Rich. II, ccl, As were his Cage too straite; Like wilder Birds, soe pent, prolls, till he find A hole, by Chance, or any wider Grate. |
9. attrib. and Comb., as grate-bar, grate-work; grate-fashion, grate-wise advs.; grate-area = grate-surface; grate-fire, a fire in an open grate; † grate-iron, (a) = gridiron; (b) see quot. 1750; grate-room, in some furnaces, a chamber with a grate beneath it; grate-shavings, shavings of wood or curled strips of paper for filling fireplaces in summer; grate-surface, the area in square feet covered by the fire-bars of a furnace or boiler.
| 1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin., s.v. *Grate Area. 1896 Daily News 20 Apr. 5/2 In a Yarrow boiler..the total grate area is forty and a quarter square feet. |
| 1832 Edin. Rev. LVI. 124 The *grate-bars which support the fuel. |
| 1659 Torriano, Bastoncello..a certain paste bak't in moulds, and *grate-fashion contrived. |
| 1907 Daily Chron. 30 Nov. 4/4 When other reformers insist on our abolishing *grate fires altogether. 1909 E. Banks Myst. Frances Farrington 87 Your utterly useless, but expensive, grate-fire. |
| 1574 Hellowes Gueuara's Fam. Ep. (1577) 178 The *grateyron of S. Laurence. 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 315 In his time was Saint Laurence..broiled vpon a grate yron. 1750 T. R. Blanckley Nav. Expos., Grate-irons are to loosen the Mud and Sullage of the Docks, which lodge in the Grates of the Drains. |
| 1883 Chance in Powell Princ. Glass-making 111 These *grate-rooms are sunk several feet below the level of the bed of the furnace. |
| 1899 Longman's Mag. Aug. 331 Statia gazed at the fireplace, decorated with what are known as *grate-shavings and silver paper. |
| 1854 Ronalds & Richardson Chem. Technol. (ed. 2) I. 255 The usual dimensions..are 1 square foot of *grate surface for a consumption of 20 lbs. of coal per hour. |
| 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage ix. v. 844 A grediron..with billets laid thereon, and other stickes on them *grate-wise. |
| 1736 Ainsworth Lat. Dict., Transenna,..any *grate-work, a lattice before a window. |
▪ II. † grate, n.2 Obs.
[f. grate v.1]
= grater1.
| 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 596/8 Micatorium, a grate. Ibid. 609/44 Scalprum, a grate, or a shaue. 1472 Durham Acct. Rolls (Surtees) I. 246 Item j grate pro zinzebr'. 1530 Palsgr. 227/1 Grate for bredde, gragevr a payn. 1609 W. M. Man in Moone (Percy Soc.) 18 When you lie like a nut⁓megge in a grate. 1674 Ray Collect. Words, Prepar. Tin 121 An iron-plate perforated with small holes like a grate. |
▪ III. † grate, n.3 Obs. rare.
[a. Flem. graet = Du. graat, G. grat.]
The backbone of a fish.
| 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 7 Ye ete the good plays allone and gaf hym nomore than the grate or bones. |
▪ IV. † grate, n.4 Obs. rare—1.
[f. grate v.1]
Collision (of weapons). Cf. grate v.1 6.
| 1460 Lybeaus Disc. (Kaluza) 1675 He smitte his schaft in grate. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxiv. xx, Ye shall not nede to feare The stroke of swerde or yet the grate of spere. |
▪ V. † grate, a. Obs.
Also 6 gret.
[ad. L. grāt-us with the same meanings; according to Brugmann = Skr. gūrtá welcome:—OAryan g{rcircblmac}to-, from the same root as Gr. γέρας reward. Cf. F. grate (Cotgr.).]
1. Pleasing, agreeable, acceptable.
| 1523 Q. Margaret in St. Papers Hen. VIII, IV. 56 For it vold be ryght gret to me, gyf I myght do it. 1543 Becon Nosegay C j b, Nothynge can be gyuen to vs more grate, acceptable & pleasaunt than this your gyfte nowe promised. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. i. 130 Quhen the name of king was maist grate and thankful to thame al. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 311 Coho or Coffee..however ingrate or insapory it seems at first, it becomes grate and delicious enough by custom. |
2. Thankful, grateful.
| 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Gratus..That remembreth or recompenseth a good turne: grate: thankeful. 1567 R. Mulcaster Fortescue's De Laud. Leg. (1572) 107 b, He that is once made free, be he grate or ingrate, is adjudged to enjoy his Freedome still. 1573 Davidson in Satir. Poems Reform. xl. Ded. I. 277 As..I wald let my gude will and grate mynd..appeir towardis ȝow. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. iii. 190 He labouris how to find the way to mak sum significatione of his grate mynd, for the benefites..quilkes afortymes frome the King of Scottis he had receuit. |
Hence † ˈgrately adv.
| 1533 Boner in St. Papers Hen. VIII, XI. 410 His Majestie toke all the same very grately and acceptablie. |
▪ VI. grate, v.1
(greɪt)
[a. OF. grate-r (mod.F. gratter) = Pr., Sp. gratar, It. grattare; Com. Rom. ad. Teut. *krattôjan (OHG. chrazzôn, mod.Ger. kratzen to scratch, Sw. kratta, Da. kratte to rake).]
† 1. trans. To scrape, file, abrade; to rub harshly, scarify, excoriate. Obs.
| 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 610/2 Scarifacio, to grate. 1514 Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.) p. li, Alle the night longe shall he his sides grate. 1593 Nashe Christ's T. 76 a, Some of them haue grated and sawed theyr smooth tender skinnes, with hayre shirts. 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 33 b/2 We muste then grate the bone with a peculiare Raspatorye. 1598 Florio, Gratuggiare, to shaue as curriers leather, to grate. 1649 Bp. Hall Cases Consc. (1650) 105 Why may he not unrivet, or grate an iron wherewith he is fettered? 1650 Fuller Pisgah iii. xii. 343 The edges of the Cross grating his late whip-furrowed back. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 333 'Tis sharp and grates the throat of those that are not used to it. |
b. with complement: To wear away, down, to nothing, etc. by abrasion. Chiefly fig. arch.
| 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions i. vi. G j b, They gather a kynde of great shelle fysshe, whose shelles they grate open with stones. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. iii. Wks. 1856 I. 36 Thou wouldst even grate away thy soule to dust. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. ii. 195 When..mightie States characterlesse are grated To dustie nothing. 1859 Tennyson Vivien 621 Who..Read but one book, and ever reading grew So grated down and filed away with thought. |
2. In culinary and pharmaceutical use: To reduce to small particles by rasping or rubbing against a rough or indented surface; to pulverize by means of a grater. Often with prep.: To grate and allow the powder to fall in, into, over something. to grate off: to grind down.
| c 1420 Liber Cocorum (1862) 40 Take rawe chese anone And grate hit in disshes mony on. c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. i. 6 Þanne grate fayre brede and cast þer-to. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 207/2 Grate gynger..frictico. 1530 Palsgr. 574/1, I grate breed or spyce. 1578 Lyte Dodoens iii. xlvii. 384 Like vertue hath the roote if it be scrapte or grated very small. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 355 Take Bayberries..dry them..then powder them, or for a need grate them. 1626 Bacon Sylva §458 Artichoakes will bee lesse prickly, and more tender, if the Seeds haue their Tops dulled or grated off vpon a Stone. 1732 Phil. Trans. XXXVII. 432 His Tongue [was] dry enough to grate a Nutmeg. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 173 Take the inside of a penny loaf, grate it fine. 1853 A. Soyer Pantroph. 92 The Indians grate this root [ginger] in their broth or ragoût. 1871 G. H. Napheys Prev. & Cure Dis. ii. i. 405 A little nutmeg grated over the surface. |
† b. fig. To examine rigorously. Obs.
| ? 1538 Latimer Let. to Cromwell in Remains (1845) 405 After such sort, much grating of him, and yet finding no other thing in him, we [etc.]. |
3. fig. To affect painfully, as if by abrasion; to fret, harass, irritate. Now rare.
| 1555 Eden Decades 96 It grated the bowels of suche as harde hym. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 1334 Grinding his teeth, and grating his great heart. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. i. 3 Grating so harshly all his dayes of quiet With turbulent and dangerous Lunacy. 1613 F. Robartes Revenue Gospel 136 What they doe now is to grate and oppresse the poore minister. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. iii. ii. §3 Others ..could not endure to be so ..frequently grated with the shame of the sin they had committed. 1665 J. Webb Stone-Heng (1725) 110 Untruths..wherewith at present he grateth your Ears. 1741 Blackstone Lawyer's Farew. to Muse 52 With sounds uncouth, and accents dry, That grate the soul of harmony. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) VII. 380 The matter begins to grate me most confoundedly. 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 63 This outrageous merriment grates my spirits. 1892 H. H. Furness Shaks. Tempest 21 Such a mere bare iteration grates me as somewhat un-Shakespearian. |
† b. intr. for refl. To be affected unpleasantly, fret. Obs.
| 1555 Eden Decades 7 He shall feele his bowelles grate with a certen horroure. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 19 That when he heard, in great perplexitie His gall did grate for griefe and high disdaine. |
4. intr. to grate on or grate upon: † a. To oppress or harass with exactions or importunities; to make burdensome demands upon. Obs.
| 1532 St. Papers Hen. VIII, II. 159 His Graces Counsaile here..verelie hath so sore gratid uppon my litle substaunce that I had, that [etc.]. 1544 Privy Counc. ibid. IX. 578 His Highnes thought Him a Prince of so grete and noble a courage, that He wold not grate any further upon Him, until [etc.]. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. ii. ii. 6, I haue grated vpon my good friends for three Repreeues for you. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. viii. (1632) 580 His Prelates greedily grating on him to empouerish his meanes. 1619 Fletcher M. Thomas i. ii, I know your Nature's sweet enough, and tender, Not grated on, nor curb'd. 1633 Bp. Hall Hard Texts, N.T. 75 Do not grate on the subject in exacting more tribute..than the law hath appointed for you. a 1656 Hales Gold. Rem. (1673) 205 God..permitted not the Jews to grate too much upon the bordering Nations. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-cr. ii. iii. 33 The Law..prohibiting Marriages..Contributes accidently..to fill the Register's Purses,..and grates hard upon the People, especially the Poor. |
b. To have an irritating effect on or upon.
| 1635 R. Bolton Comf. Affl. Consc. iv. 21 Of all other passions of the Soule, sadnesse and griefe grates most upon the vital spirits. 1677 Gov. Venice 48 These sort of reflections..grate upon their Equality. 1744 Swift Serm. Mut. Subj. 10 Although this Doctrine of subjecting ourselves to one another may seem to grate upon the Pride and Vanity of Mankind,..yet[etc.]. 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) II. viii. 87 All mention, therefore, of calling parliament grated on his ear. 1847 Disraeli Tancred ii. xvi, She never grated for an instant on his high ideal. 1878 Geo. Eliot Coll. Breakf. P. 339 Your itch to choose What grates upon the sense. |
† c. To offend against, be derogatory to. Obs.
| 1676 Glanvill Ess. Philos. & Relig. Ep. Ded. a, Being cautious to abstain from all expressions, that grate on the Honour of God, as you are free from any that can give just offence unto man. |
† 5. trans. (Cf. 4 a.) To obtain by oppression or importunity. Obs.
| 1540 Hen. VIII in St. Papers Hen. VIII, VIII. 410 Ye shal not..entre any further with him in the twoo poyntes, wherby he grate more of youe, wherby to chalenge the same. 1541 Hen. VIII ibid. 644 They seame..to grate a further pryvileage by a graunte of our progenitour King Edwarde the Thirde, thenne before was alledged. 1542 Paget ibid. IX. 51 For great store of money they have not,..and [he] hath alredy grated as much as He can get. |
† 6. a. trans. To make (a weapon) strike or ‘bite’. b. intr. Of a weapon: To strike or bite. Const. on. Obs.
| 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy iii. xxii, On Meneste he gan his spere grate. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. clxviii. 190 b, Their speres grated nat, if they had, by moost lykelhod they had taken hurte. 1530 Palsgr. 574/1, I grate, as a weapen dothe upon harnesse or any sharpe thynge and harde upon a nother, je amors. a 1633 Austin Medit. (1635) 255 Whence comes it, that Bullets or Arrowes often grate on us, and yet hurt us not? a 1700 Ballad Geo. Barnwell 152 Ere I would want, were I a man..On father, friends and all my kin I would my talons grate. |
7. trans. a. To rub harshly together, ‘grind’ (the teeth). b. Of a thing: To rub against (another thing) harshly, producing a jarring sound.
| 1555 Eden Decades 20 Fretinge and gratinge his teethe as it had bin a lyon of Libia. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. vii. 34 Thereat the feend his gnashing teeth did grate. 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 306 The threshold grates the doore to haue him heard. 1604 T. M. Black Bk. in Middleton's Wks. (Bullen) VIII. 8 They grate with their hard naily soles The stones in Fleet-street. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 540 Then champeth he with his mouth, grateth and gnasheth his teeth one against another. 1633 T. James Voy. 15 The..corners of the Ice did grate vs with that violence, as I..thought it would haue grated the plankes from the Ships sides. 1821 Keats Lamia i. 224 His galley now Grated the quay-stones. 1834 Medwin Angler in Wales I. 57 When it [the dingy] grates the sand. |
8. intr. To rub against with a harsh, grinding noise; to move creakingly; to sound harshly.
| 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. i. 132, I had rather heare a..dry Wheele grate on the Axle-tree. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xxxvi. §4 We are not so nice as to cast away a sharp knife because the edge of it may sometimes grate. 1637 Milton Lycidas 124 Their lean and flashy songs Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw. 1759 Adam Smith Mor. Sent. vi. iii. i. 493 The vile rust, which makes them [wheels] jarr and grate upon one another. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxvi, The great doors of the hall, which grate so heavily. 1797 ― Italian xii, A key grated in the lock. 1814 Byron Corsair i. iv, Till grates her keel upon the shallow sand. 1853 Kingsley Hypatia xxii. 275 At last his cell-door grated on its hinges. 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 773 Turning softly like a thief, Lest the harsh shingle should grate underfoot. |
b. trans. In poetical nonce-uses: To produce (discordant sound) by jarring movement; to proclaim by a grating cry.
| 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 881 Th' infernal dores..on thir hinges grate Harsh Thunder. 1847 Tennyson Princ. iv. 107 Marsh-divers..Shall croak thee sister, or the meadow-crake Grate her harsh kindred in the grass. |
c. trans. To utter (words) in a harsh tone.
| 1921 Galsworthy To Let ii. v. 165 Gradman grated: ‘Rather extreme at your age, sir; you lose control.’ 1969 J. Ross Dead at First Hand i. 8 ‘I'm a gambler, Rogers,’ he grated. |
† 9. intr. To ‘harp’ or dwell querulously upon a subject. Obs.
| 1542 Paget in St. Papers Hen. VIII, VIII. 686 It pleased Him to devise with me of the mariage now in treaty for Your Majesties doughter, albeit He did grate sumwhat at the furst upon this terme, bastarde. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 109 Cha so grated on the new, cha forgot tholde. 1567 Triall Treas. (1850) 18 Gredy-gutte maketh them continually to grate On the mock of this world, which he thinketh permanent. 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 48 Here wuld be matter gud plenti, both for them to grate uppon and to brute abroad in the town. 1625 W. Pemble Justif. Faith (1629) 197 Who are very ready, when it fits their humour, to grate sore vpon the bare words and letter of a text. 1698 F. B. Modest Censure 17 Mr. Boyle..grates on the Doctor's breeding. |
▪ VII. grate, v.2
(greɪt)
[f. grate n.1]
† 1. trans. To confine within ‘grates’ or bars.
| 1528 More Dyaloge i. xiv. 18 b/2 Aftere she was gratid within iren grates aboue in the rood loft where it was byleued that she liued without any mete or drynke only by angels fode. |
2. To fit or furnish with a grate or grating.
| 1547 Boorde Introd. Knowl. xxxix. (1870) 220 The sepulcre is grated rounde aboute wyth yrone. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. (1586) 172 b, Be sure that you have them well grated, that the Fish can by no meanes passe through. 1629 Massinger Picture iv. ii, The windows grated with iron! 1644 Evelyn Diary 12 Nov., A well..grated over with iron. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xxv, One large apartment, strongly grated. 1776 G. Semple Building in Water 106 You are to grate the Bottom with two Courses of six Inch Plank, crossing one another. 1821 Byron Sardan. ii. i. 419 The gates That grate the palace, which is now our prison. |
† 3. To put on a grate or grid. Obs. rare—1.
| 1598 Florio, Gratellare, to grate, to broyle vpon a grid-iron. |
▪ VIII. grate
variant of grote v. Obs., to weep.