Definition of "grate"

grate¹

/ɡɹeɪt/

noun
plural grates
1. A horizontal metal grill through which liquid, ash, or small objects can fall, while larger objects cannot.
  Quotations
  a secret grate of iron bars
  1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene iv]
2. A frame or bed, or kind of basket, of iron bars, for holding fuel while burning.
3. (historical) A grapper, a metal ring on a lance behind the grip.
  Quotations
  Lances (only shown at Stoke D'Abernon) were commonly made of ash, about 13 feet long. A ring of metal (grate or grapper) was fastened to the shaft and during a fight […]
  1969, Herbert Walter Macklin, Monumental Brasses
  […] and a heavy metal ring, called the grate or graper, fastened to the shaft below the grip. The grate rested against the knight's breastplate and relieved the hand and arm of the full shock of contact. The metallic head (or socket) of the war lance was usually leaf shaped, while that of the tilting lance, at least from […]
  1980, The Encyclopedia Americana, volume 16, page 683
verb
third-person singular simple present grates, present participle grating, simple past and past participle grated
1. (transitive) To furnish with grates; to protect with a grating or crossbars.

grate²

/ɡɹeɪt/

verb
third-person singular simple present grates, present participle grating, simple past and past participle grated
1. (transitive, cooking) To shred (things, usually foodstuffs), by rubbing across a grater.
2. (intransitive) To make an unpleasant rasping sound, often as the result of rubbing against something.
  Quotations
  The gate suddenly grated. It was Lestiboudois; he came to fetch his spade, that he had forgotten. He recognised Justin climbing over the wall, and at last knew who was the culprit who stole his potatoes.
  1856, Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part 3 Chapter X, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling
  The turmoil went on—no rest, no peace. […] It was nearly eleven o'clock now, and he strolled out again. In the little fair created by the costers' barrows the evening only seemed beginning; and the naphtha flares made one's eyes ache, the men's voices grated harshly, and the girls' faces saddened one.
  1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company
3. (by extension, intransitive) To get on one's nerves; to irritate, annoy.
4. (by extension, transitive) To annoy.
  Quotations
  one of the issues that's kind of grating me a little bit is weed control.
  2015, Art Levy in Florida Trend, Roland Martin is a Florida 'Icon'
  News, my good lord Rome […] grates me.
  c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i]

grate³

/ɡɹeɪt/

adjective
comparative more grate, superlative most grate
1. (obsolete) Serving to gratify; agreeable.
  Quotations
  Coho or Coffee […] however ingrate or insapory it seems at first, it becomes grate and delicious enough by custom.
  1677, Sir Thomas Herbert, Some Yeares Travels into Africa and Asia the Great

grate⁴

/ɡɹeɪt/

adjective
comparative more grate, superlative most grate
1. Obsolete spelling of great
  Quotations
  He promisd her a grate reward
  c. 1815, Mary Woody, A true account of Nayomy Wise

Definition of "grate"

grate1

noun

Quotations

Quotations

verb

grate2

verb

Quotations

Quotations

grate3

adjective

Quotations

grate4

adjective

Quotations

grate¹

grate²

grate³

grate⁴