I. graft 1 /ɡrɑːft $ ɡræft/ BrE AmE noun
[ Date: 1400-1500 ; Origin: graff 'graft' (14-19 centuries) , from Old French grafe 'pencil, graft' , from Greek graphein 'to write' ; because a plant graft looks like a pencil ]
1 . [countable] a piece of healthy skin or bone taken from someone’s body and put in or on another part of their body that has been damaged:
Martha had to have several skin grafts.
2 . [countable] a piece cut from one plant and tied to or put inside a cut in another, so that it grows there
3 . [uncountable] especially British English informal hard work:
Our success has been due to sheer hard graft.
4 . [uncountable] especially American English the practice of obtaining money or advantage by the dishonest use of influence or power:
He promised to end graft in public life.
II. graft 2 BrE AmE verb
1 . [transitive] to remove a piece of skin, bone etc from part of someone’s body and put it onto or into a part of their body that has been damaged
graft something onto/to something
The technique involves grafting a very thin slice of bone onto the damaged knee.
2 . [transitive + on/onto] to join a part of a plant or tree onto another plant or tree
3 . [transitive] to add something very different to something, so that it becomes part of it
graft something onto something
New elements are being grafted onto our traditional form of government.
graft something on
It is a 17th-century farmhouse with some Victorian additions grafted on.
4 . [intransitive] especially British English informal to work hard
graft off somebody phrasal verb American English
to get money or advantages from someone by the dishonest use of influence, especially political influence