grinding

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
grind/ɡrʌɪnd/

▶verb (past and past part. ground)

• 1 reduce to small particles or powder by crushing.

• 2 sharpen, smooth, or produce by crushing or friction.

  ■ operate (a mill or machine) by turning the handle.

• 3 rub together gratingly.

  ■ press or rub (something) into a surface.

• 4 move noisily and laboriously.

  ■ (grind something out) produce something laboriously.

  ■ (often grind away) work or study hard.

• 5 (grind someone down) wear someone down with harsh treatment.

  ■ (as adj. grinding) oppressive and seemingly endless: grinding poverty.

• 6 informal (of a dancer) rotate the hips erotically.

▶noun

• 1 an act or process of grinding.

• 2 hard dull work: the daily grind.

  ■ US informal an excessively hard-working student.

– phrases
grind to a halt (or come to a grinding halt) slow down gradually and then stop completely.

– derivatives
grinder noun,
grindingly adverb.

– origin OE grindan, prob. of Gmc origin.