Adjacent Words

Graft definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

GR`AFT, n. [L. scribo, the sense of which is to scrape or to dig.]
A small shoot or cion of a tree, inserted in another tree as the stock which is to support and nourish it. These unite and become one tree, but the graft determines the kind of fruit.
GR`AFT, v.t. To insert a cion or shoot, or a small cutting of it, into another tree.
1. To propagate by insertion or inoculation.
2. To insert in a body to which it did not originally belong. Rom
11:17.
3. To impregnate with a foreign branch.
4. To join one thing to another so as to receive support from it.
And graft my love immortal on thy fame.
GR`AFT, v.i. To practice the insertion of foreign cions on a stock.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: (surgery) tissue or organ transplanted from a donor to a recipient; in some cases the patient can be both donor and recipient [syn: graft, transplant]
2: the practice of offering something (usually money) in order to gain an illicit advantage [syn: bribery, graft]
3: the act of grafting something onto something else [syn: graft, grafting] v
1: cause to grow together parts from different plants; "graft the cherry tree branch onto the plum tree" [syn: graft, engraft, ingraft]
2: place the organ of a donor into the body of a recipient [syn: transplant, graft]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English graffe, grafte, from Anglo-French greffe, graife stylus, graph, from Medieval Latin graphium, from Latin, stylus, from Greek grapheion, from graphein to write — more at carve Date: 14th century 1. a. a grafted plant b. scion 1 c. the point of insertion of a scion upon a stock 2. a. the act of grafting b. something grafted; specifically living tissue used in grafting II. verb Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. a. to cause (a scion) to unite with a stock; also to unite (plants or scion and stock) to form a graft b. to propagate (a plant) by grafting 2. a. to join or unite as if by grafting b. to attach (a chemical unit) to a main molecular chain 3. to implant (living tissue) surgically intransitive verb 1. to become grafted 2. to perform grafting • grafter noun III. noun Etymology: English dialect graft, verb, to work Date: 1853 chiefly British work, labor IV. Etymology: origin unknown Date: 1859 transitive verb to get (illicit gain) by graft intransitive verb to practice graft V. noun Date: 1865 the acquisition of gain (as money) in dishonest or questionable ways; also illegal or unfair gain

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. & v. --n. 1 Bot. a a shoot or scion inserted into a slit of stock, from which it receives sap. b the place where a graft is inserted. 2 Surgery a piece of living tissue, organ, etc., transplanted surgically. 3 sl. hard work. --v. 1 tr. a (often foll. by into, on, together, etc.) insert (a scion) as a graft. b insert a graft on (a stock). 2 intr. insert a graft. 3 tr. Surgery transplant (living tissue). 4 tr. (foll. by in, on) insert or fix (a thing) permanently to another. 5 intr. sl. work hard. Phrases and idioms: grafting-clay (or -wax) a substance for covering the united parts of a graft and stock. Derivatives: grafter n. Etymology: ME (earlier graff) f. OF grafe, grefe f. L graphium f. Gk graphion stylus f. grapho write 2. n. & v. colloq. --n. 1 practices, esp. bribery, used to secure illicit gains in politics or business. 2 such gains. --v.intr. seek or make such gains. Derivatives: grafter n. Etymology: 19th c.: orig. unkn.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Graft Graft, n. [Prob. orig. so called because illegitimate or improper profit was looked upon as a graft, or sort of excrescence, on a legitimate business undertaking, in distinction from its natural proper development.] 1. Acquisition of money, position, etc., by dishonest or unjust means, as by actual theft or by taking advantage of a public office or any position of trust or employment to obtain fees, perquisites, profits on contracts, legislation, pay for work not done or service not performed, etc.; illegal or unfair practice for profit or personal advantage; also, anything thus gained. [Colloq.] 2. A ``soft thing'' or ``easy thing;'' a ``snap.'' [Slang]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Graft Graft, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Grafted; p. pr. & vb. n. Grafting.] [F. greffer. See Graft, n.] 1. To insert (a graft) in a branch or stem of another tree; to propagate by insertion in another stock; also, to insert a graft upon. [Formerly written graff.] 2. (Surg.) To implant a portion of (living flesh or akin) in a lesion so as to form an organic union. 3. To join (one thing) to another as if by grafting, so as to bring about a close union. And graft my love immortal on thy fame ! --Pope. 4. (Naut.) To cover, as a ring bolt, block strap, splicing, etc., with a weaving of small cord or rope-yarns.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Graft Graft, v. i. To insert scions from one tree, or kind of tree, etc., into another; to practice grafting.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Graft Graft, n. [OE. graff, F. greffe, originally the same word as OF. grafe pencil, L. graphium, Gr. ?, ?, fr. ? to write; prob. akin to E. carve. So named from the resemblance of a scion or shoot to a pointed pencil. Cf. Graphic, Grammar.] (a) A small shoot or scion of a tree inserted in another tree, the stock of which is to support and nourish it. The two unite and become one tree, but the graft determines the kind of fruit. (b) A branch or portion of a tree growing from such a shoot. (c) (Surg.) A portion of living tissue used in the operation of autoplasty.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(grafts, grafting, grafted) 1. A graft is a piece of healthy skin or bone, or a healthy organ, which is attached to a damaged part of your body by a medical operation in order to replace it. I am having a skin graft on my arm soon. N-COUNT: oft supp N 2. If a piece of healthy skin or bone or a healthy organ is grafted onto a damaged part of your body, it is attached to that part of your body by a medical operation. The top layer of skin has to be grafted onto the burns. VERB: usu passive, be V-ed onto/on n 3. If a part of one plant or tree is grafted onto another plant or tree, they are joined together so that they will become one plant or tree, often in order to produce a new variety. Pear trees are grafted on quince rootstocks. VERB: be V-ed on/onto n 4. If you graft one idea or system on to another, you try to join one to the other. The Japanese tried to graft their own methods on to this different structure. VERB: V n onto n 5. Graft means hard work. (BRIT INFORMAL) His career has been one of hard graft. 6. In politics, graft is used to refer to the activity of using power or authority to obtain money dishonestly. (mainly AM) ...another politician accused of graft.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

the process of inoculating fruit-trees (Rom. 11:17-24). It is peculiarly appropriate to olive-trees. The union thus of branches to a stem is used to illustrate the union of true believers to the true Church.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

graft (egkentrizo; the Revised Version (British and American) "graft"; the King James Version, "graff"): The word occurs 6 times in Ro 11. Paul assumed that those living about Rome were familiar with the process of grafting olive trees, for olive culture had been adopted by the Greeks and Romans in Paul's time. The wild olive trees (Arabic colloquial, zeitun berri) are cut back, slits made on the freshly sawed branch ends, and two or three grafts from a cultivated olive (Arabic colloquial, zeitun jouwi) are inserted in such a way that the bark of the scion and of the branch coincide. The exposed ends are smeared with mud made from clay, and then bound with cloth or date straw, which is held by thongs made from the bark of young mulberry branches. The fruit thus obtained is good. Wild olives cannot be made cultivated olives by engrafting, as Paul implies (Ro 11:24), but a wild olive branch thus grafted would thrive. So Gentiles would flourish spiritually when grafted into the fullness of God's mercy, first revealed to the world through Israel.

James A. Patch

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. Shoot (inserted in another tree), scion, sprout. II. v. a. Ingraft.

Moby Thesaurus

abstraction, affix, anchor, annex, annexation, appropriation, attach, ballot-box stuffing, belay, blackmail, boodle, boodling, boosting, booty, bribery, bribery and corruption, bribing, bud, bunco, campaign contribution, campaign fund, cardsharping, cement, cheat, cheating, cinch, clamp, clinch, conversion, conveyance, corruption, cozenage, cramp, diddle, diddling, dishonesty, dodge, embedment, embezzlement, engraft, entrance, extortion, fasten, filching, fishy transaction, fix, flam, flimflam, fraud, fraudulence, fraudulency, gerrymandering, grafting, grapple, grift, gyp, gyp joint, haul, hot goods, illicit business, imp, impaction, impactment, implant, implantation, imposition, imposture, inarch, infixion, infusion, injection, inoculation, insert, insertion, insinuation, interjection, interpolation, introduction, intromission, jobbery, join, kickback, knit, liberation, lifting, loot, make fast, moor, nepotism, payola, penetration, perfusion, perks, perquisite, pickings, pilferage, pilfering, pinching, plunder, poaching, political intrigue, pork barrel, pork-barrel legislation, pork-barreling, prize, public till, public tit, public trough, put to, racket, scam, scion, screw up, scrounging, secure, set, set to, shoot, shoplifting, slush fund, snatching, sneak thievery, snitching, splice, spoil, spoils, spoils of office, spoils system, squeeze, stealage, stealing, stealings, stolen goods, subornation, swag, swindle, swiping, take, tessellation, theft, thievery, thieving, tighten, till, transplant, transplantation, trice up, trim