English

Noun

Grit ‎(plural Grits)

1. (Canada, politics) A member or supporter of the Liberal Party of Canada or one of its provincial wings (except for the Quebec provincial wing).

Related terms

• Grits

See also

• Liberal
• Liberal Party
• Whig
• Tory

Adjective

Grit ‎(not comparable)

1. (Canada, politics) Of or belonging to the Liberal Party of Canada.

See also

• Liberal

Anagrams

• girt
• trig

Nauruan

Proper noun

Grit

1. Greece

English

Noun

a pile of grit set out for grouse, which the birds swallow to assist in digesting heather

grit ‎(uncountable)

1. A collection of hard small materials, such as dirt, ground stone, debris from sandblasting or other such grinding, or swarf from metalworking.

   The flower beds were white with grit from sand blasting the flagstone walkways.‎

   1. Sand or a sand–salt mixture spread on wet and, especially, icy roads and footpaths to improve traction.
2. Inedible particles in food.

   These cookies seem to have grit from nutshells in them.‎

3. A measure of the relative coarseness of an abrasive material such as sandpaper, the smaller the number the coarser the abrasive.

   I need a sheet of 100 grit sandpaper.‎

4. (geology) A hard, coarse-grained siliceous sandstone; gritstone. Also, a finer sharp-grained sandstone, e.g., grindstone grit.
5. Strength of mind; great courage or fearlessness; fortitude.

   That kid with the cast on his arm has the grit to play dodgeball.‎

   • 2015 April 15, Jonathan Martin, “For a Clinton, it’s not hard to be humble in an effort to regain power”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 6 September 2015:

     But what their admirers call grit and critics deem shamelessness can overshadow another essential element of the Clinton school: a willingness to put on the hair shirt of humility to regain power.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of C. Reade to this entry?)

   (Can we find and add a quotation of E. P. Whipple to this entry?)

Derived terms

• grits
• gritty

Related terms

• grind
• grindstone
• sand, sandy, sandblasting

See also

• debris
• mortar and pestle
• swarf

Translations

Verb

grit ‎(third-person singular simple present grits, present participle gritting, simple past and past participle gritted or (nonstandard) grit)

1. Apparently only in grit one's teeth: to clench, particularly in reaction to pain or anger.

   We had no choice but to grit our teeth and get on with it.‎

   He has a sleeping disorder and grits his teeth.‎

2. To cover with grit.
3. To give forth a grating sound, like sand under the feet; to grate; to grind.
   • Goldsmith:

     The sanded floor that grits beneath the tread.

Derived terms

• grit one's teeth

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English gryt ‎(“bran, chaff”), from Old English grytt, from Proto-Germanic *grutją ‎(“coarsely ground bits”) (compare Dutch grut, German Grütze), ablaut variant of Proto-Indo-European *gʰr-eu-d-. See above.

Noun

grit ‎(plural grits)

1. (chiefly in the plural) Husked but unground oats.
2. (chiefly in the plural) Coarsely ground corn or hominy used as porridge.

Related terms

• grout
• gruel

Translations

Anagrams

• girt
• trig