Corn, n.
 1. A single seed of certain plants, as wheat, rye, barley, and maize; a grain.
 2. The various farinaceous grains of the cereal grasses used for food, as wheat, rye, barley, maize, oats.
 Note: ☞ In Scotland, corn is generally restricted to oats, in the United States, to maize, or Indian corn (see sense 3), and in England to wheat.
 3. a tall cereal plant (Zea mays) bearing its seeds as large kernels in multiple rows on the surface of a hard cylindrical ear, the core of which (the cob) is not edible; -- also called Indian corn and, in technical literature, maize. There are several kinds; as, yellow corn, which grows chiefly in the Northern States, and is yellow when ripe; white corn or  southern corn, which grows to a great height, and has long white kernels; sweet corn, comprising a number of sweet and tender varieties, grown chiefly at the North, some of which have kernels that wrinkle when ripe and dry; pop corn, any small variety, used for popping.  Corn seeds may be cooked while on the ear and eaten directly, or may be stripped from the ear and cooked subsequently.  The term Indian corn is often used to refer to a primitive type of corn having kernels of varied color borne on the same cob; it is used for decoration, especially in the fall.
 4. The plants which produce corn, when growing in the field; the stalks and ears, or the stalks, ears, and seeds, after reaping and before thrashing.
 In one night, ere glimpse of morn,
 His shadowy flail had thrashed the corn.   --Milton.
 5. A small, hard particle; a grain. “Corn of sand.” --Bp. Hall. “A corn of powder.” --Beau. & Fl.
 Corn ball, a ball of popped corn stuck together with soft candy from molasses or sugar.
 Corn bread, bread made of Indian meal.
 Corn cake, a kind of corn bread; johnny cake; hoecake.
 Corn cockle Bot., a weed (Agrostemma Githago syn. Lychnis Githago), having bright flowers, common in grain fields.
 Corn flag Bot., a plant of the genus Gladiolus; -- called also sword lily.
 Corn fly. Zool. (a) A small fly which, in the larval state, is injurious to grain, living in the stalk, and causing the disease called “gout,” on account of the swelled joints. The common European species is Chlorops tæniopus. (b) A small fly (Anthomyia ze) whose larva or maggot destroys seed corn after it has been planted.
 Corn fritter, a fritter having green Indian corn mixed through its batter. [U. S.]
 Corn laws, laws regulating trade in corn, especially those in force in Great Britain till 1846, prohibiting the importation of foreign grain for home consumption, except when the price rose above a certain rate.
 Corn marigold. Bot. See under Marigold.
 Corn oyster, a fritter containing grated green Indian corn and butter, the combined taste resembling that of oysters. [U.S.]
 Corn parsley Bot., a plant of the parsley genus (Petroselinum segetum), a weed in parts of Europe and Asia.
 Corn popper, a utensil used in popping corn.
 Corn poppy Bot., the red poppy (Papaver Rhœas), common in European cornfields; -- also called corn rose.
 Corn rent, rent paid in corn.
 Corn rose. See Corn poppy.
 Corn salad Bot., a name given to several species of Valerianella, annual herbs sometimes used for salad. Valerianella olitoria is also called lamb's lettuce.
 Corn stone, red limestone. [Prov. Eng.]
 Corn violet Bot., a species of Campanula.
 Corn weevil. Zool. (a) A small weevil which causes great injury to grain. (b) In America, a weevil (Sphenophorus zeæ) which attacks the stalk of maize near the root, often doing great damage. See Grain weevil, under Weevil.


 Grain n.
 1. A single small hard seed; a kernel, especially of  those plants, like wheat, whose seeds are used for food.
 2. The fruit of certain grasses which furnish the chief food of man, as corn, wheat, rye, oats, etc., or the plants themselves; -- used collectively.
    Storehouses crammed with grain.   --Shak.
 3. Any small, hard particle, as of sand, sugar, salt, etc.; hence, any minute portion or particle; as, a grain of gunpowder, of pollen, of starch, of sense, of wit, etc.
    I . . . with a grain of manhood well resolved.   --Milton.
 4. The unit of the English system of weights; -- so called because considered equal to the average of grains taken from the middle of the ears of wheat. 7,000 grains constitute the pound avoirdupois, and 5,760 grains the pound troy.  A grain is equal to .0648 gram. See Gram.
 5. A reddish dye made from the coccus insect, or kermes; hence, a red color of any tint or hue, as crimson, scarlet, etc.; sometimes used by the poets as equivalent to Tyrian purple.
    All in a robe of darkest grain.   --Milton.
    Doing as the dyers do, who, having first dipped their silks in colors of less value, then give' them the last tincture of crimson in grain.   --Quoted by Coleridge, preface to Aids to Reflection.
 6. The composite particles of any substance; that arrangement of the particles of any body which determines its comparative roughness or hardness; texture; as, marble, sugar, sandstone, etc., of fine grain.
    Hard box, and linden of a softer grain.   --Dryden.
 7. The direction, arrangement, or appearance of the fibers in wood, or of the strata in stone, slate, etc.
 Knots, by the conflux of meeting sap,
 Infect the sound pine and divert his grain
 Tortive and errant from his course of growth.   --Shak.
 8. The fiber which forms the substance of wood or of any fibrous material.
 9. The hair side of a piece of leather, or the marking on that side.
 10. pl. The remains of grain, etc., after brewing or distillation; hence, any residuum. Also called draff.
 11. Bot. A rounded prominence on the back of a sepal, as in the common dock. See Grained, a., 4.
 12. Temper; natural disposition; inclination. [Obs.]
    Brothers . . . not united in grain.   --Hayward.
 13. A sort of spice, the grain of paradise. [Obs.]
 He cheweth grain and licorice,
 To smellen sweet.   --Chaucer.
 Against the grain, against or across the direction of the fibers; hence, against one's wishes or tastes; unwillingly; unpleasantly; reluctantly; with difficulty. --Swift. --Saintsbury.-- A grain of allowance, a slight indulgence or latitude a small allowance.
 Grain binder, an attachment to a harvester for binding the grain into sheaves.
 Grain colors, dyes made from the coccus or kermes insect.
 Grain leather. (a) Dressed horse hides. (b) Goat, seal, and other skins blacked on the grain side for women's shoes, etc.
 Grain moth Zool., one of several small moths, of the family Tineidæ (as Tinea granella and Butalis cerealella), whose larvæ devour grain in storehouses.
 Grain side Leather, the side of a skin or hide from which the hair has been removed; -- opposed to flesh side.
 Grains of paradise, the seeds of a species of amomum.
 grain tin, crystalline tin ore metallic tin smelted with charcoal.
 Grain weevil Zool., a small red weevil (Sitophilus granarius), which destroys stored wheat and other grain, by eating out the interior.
 Grain worm Zool., the larva of the grain moth. See grain moth, above.
 In grain, of a fast color; deeply seated; fixed; innate; genuine. “Anguish in grain.” --Herbert.
 To dye in grain, to dye of a fast color by means of the coccus or kermes grain [see Grain, n., 5]; hence, to dye firmly; also, to dye in the wool, or in the raw material. See under Dye.
 The red roses flush up in her cheeks . . .
 Likce crimson dyed in grain.   --Spenser.
 -- To go against the grain of (a person), to be repugnant to; to vex, irritate, mortify, or trouble.