/ grɑːft; NAmE græft/ noun , verb
■ noun
1.
[ C ] a piece cut from a living plant and fixed in a cut made in another plant, so that it grows there; the process or result of doing this
2.
[ C ] a piece of skin, bone, etc. removed from a living body and placed in another part of the body which has been damaged; the process or result of doing this :
a skin graft
3.
[ U ] ( BrE , informal ) hard work :
Their success was the result of years of hard graft .
4.
( especially NAmE ) the use of illegal or unfair methods, especially bribery , to gain advantage in business, politics, etc.; money obtained in this way
■ verb
1.
[ vn ] graft sth (onto / to / into sth) | graft sth (on) (from sth) to take a piece of skin, bone, etc. from one part of the body and attach it to a damaged part :
newly grafted tissue
New skin had to be grafted on from his back.
2.
[ vn ] graft sth (onto sth) to cut a piece from a living plant and attach it to another plant
3.
[ vn ] graft sth (onto sth) to make one idea, system, etc. become part of another one :
Old values are being grafted onto a new social class.
4.
[ v ] ( BrE , informal ) to work hard
••
WORD ORIGIN
noun senses 1 to 2 and verb senses 1 to 3 late Middle English graff , from Old French grafe , via Latin from Greek graphion stylus, writing implement (with reference to the tapered tip of the scion), from graphein write. The final -t is typical of phonetic confusion between -f and -ft at the end of words; compare with tuft .
noun sense 3 and verb sense 4 mid 19th cent.: perhaps related to the phrase spade's graft the amount of earth that one stroke of a spade will move , based on Old Norse gro̧ftr digging.
noun sense 4 mid 19th cent.: of unknown origin.