graft

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
graft1

▶noun

• 1 a shoot or twig inserted into a slit on the trunk or stem of a living plant, from which it receives sap.

• 2 a piece of living tissue that is transplanted surgically.

  ■ an operation in which tissue is transplanted.

▶verb

• 1 insert or transplant as a graft.

• 2 integrate in or attach to something else, especially inappropriately.

– origin ME graff, from OFr. grafe, via L. from Gk graphion ‘writing implement’ (with ref. to the tapered tip of the shoot or twig), from graphein ‘write’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
graft2 Brit. informal

▶noun hard work. ▶verb work hard.

– derivatives
grafter noun.

– origin C19: perh. rel. to the phr. spade's graft ‘the amount of earth that one stroke of a spade will move’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
graft3

▶noun informal bribery and other corrupt measures pursued for gain in politics or business. ▶verb make money by corrupt means.

– derivatives
grafter noun.

– origin C19: of unknown origin.