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Definition graft

Etymology 1

From Middle English graffe, from Old French greffe (“stylus”), from Latin graphium (“stylus”), from Ancient Greek ???????? (grapheíon), from ??????? (gráphein, “to write”); probably akin to English carve. So named from the resemblance of a scion or shoot to a pointed pencil. Compare graphic, grammar.

Noun

graft (countable and uncountable, plural grafts)

1. (countable) A small shoot or scion of a tree inserted in another tree, the stock of which is to support and nourish it. The two unite and become one tree, but the graft determines the kind of fruit.
2. (countable) A branch or portion of a tree growing from such a shoot.
3. (surgery, countable) A portion of living tissue used in the operation of autoplasty.

Verb

graft (third-person singular simple present grafts, present participle grafting, simple past and past participle grafted)

1. (transitive) To insert (a graft) in a branch or stem of another tree; to propagate by insertion in another stock; also, to insert a graft upon.
2. (intransitive) To insert scions (grafts) from one tree, or kind of tree, etc., into another; to practice grafting.
3. (transitive, surgery) To implant a portion of (living flesh or akin) in a lesion so as to form an organic union.
4. (transitive) To join (one thing) to another as if by grafting, so as to bring about a close union.
5. (transitive, nautical) To cover, as a ring bolt, block strap, splicing, etc., with a weaving of small cord or rope-yarns.
6. (chemistry) To form a graft polymer

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch graft (“canal”), from graven (“dig”). The contemporary senses “depth of digging blade” and “narrow spade” may have a separate history, but this is uncertain. Compare Old Norse gr?ft (“the action of digging”). Attested from the 17th century.

Noun

graft (plural grafts)

1. (obsolete) A ditch, a canal.
2. The depth of the blade of a digging tool such as a spade or shovel.
3. A narrow spade used in digging drainage trenches.

Etymology 3

Uncertain. Some lexicographers suggest an extended use of Etymology 2, above, expanding from “digging” to work more generally, and from there to dishonest work. Others, however, suggest an extension from Etymology 1, shifting from “a shoot or scion” to the notion of corruption through the idea of excrescence.

Noun

graft (countable and uncountable, plural grafts)

1. (uncountable) Corruption in official life.
2. (uncountable) Illicit profit by corrupt means, especially in public life.
3. (uncountable, slang) A criminal’s special branch of practice.
4. (countable) A con job.
5. (countable, slang) A cut of the take (money).
6. (uncountable, US, politics) A bribe, especially on an ongoing basis.
7. (Britain) (uncountable, colloquial) Work; labor
8. (Britain) (countable, colloquial) A job or trade.
9. (Britain) (uncountable, colloquial) Effort needed for doing hard work.

Verb

graft (third-person singular simple present grafts, present participle grafting, simple past and past participle grafted)

1. To work.
2. To obtain illegal gain from bribery or similar corrupt practices.

Results 376 Words with the letters GRAFT

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