v. 1 pound, powder, pulverize, abrade, crush, granulate, mill, grate, rasp, crumble, kibble, mash, triturate, bray, comminute The rock was soon ground to a fine powder 2 sharpen, whet; file, smooth, polish He is grinding the edge to be razor sharp 3 gnash, grit, grate He grinds his teeth when he's angry 4 Also, grind away. labour, toil, slave (away); study, lucubrate, burn the midnight oil, Colloq cram, Brit swot George has been grinding away at the same job all his life Languages came easily, but he had to grind away at the sciences. 5 grind down. wear down or away, crush, oppress, subdue, suppress, tyrannize, persecute, maltreat, ill-treat, harry, harass, hound, hector, plague, badger Dictators first grind down all opposition, then destroy it 6 grind out. produce, generate, crank out, churn out, turn out For 20 years he has been grinding out the daily gossip column
n. 7 toil, labour, drudgery, travail, exertion, task, chore Working at the checkout counter hour after hour is a terrible grind