Definition

1. Noun:
   • A machine tool that polishes metal: A device, often with a rotating abrasive wheel, used for shaping, smoothing, or sharpening metal objects.
   • Machinery that processes materials by grinding or crushing: A machine designed to reduce solid materials into smaller pieces by mechanical force, such as a coffee grinder or a meat grinder.
   • A grinding tooth with a broad crown; located behind the premolars: A molar tooth, used for crushing and grinding food.
   • A large sandwich made of a long crusty roll split lengthwise and filled with meats and cheese (and tomato and onion and lettuce and condiments); different names are used in different sections of the United States: A type of submarine sandwich, also regionally called a hoagie, sub, or hero.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Machine Tool):
  • The machinist used a precision grinder to sharpen the drill bits.
  • Sparks flew from the grinder as he smoothed the weld.
• Noun (Processing Machine):
  • She put the coffee beans into the grinder to make fresh grounds.
  • The pepper grinder is on the dining table.
• Noun (Tooth):
  • The dentist said the cavity was in one of my back grinders.
  • Chewing tough meat requires strong grinders.
• Noun (Sandwich):
  • For lunch, I ordered a Italian grinder with salami and provolone.
  • This deli makes the best cold cut grinder in town.

Advanced Usage

• "Organ grinder": Refers to a street musician who plays a barrel organ, often with a monkey that collects money. This phrase is sometimes used in the idiom "the organ grinder, not the monkey," meaning to address the person in charge, not a subordinate.
  • The reporter wanted to speak to the CEO, not the assistant—the organ grinder, not the monkey.

Variants and Related Words

• Grind (verb): To reduce something to small particles or powder by crushing it; to sharpen or smooth by friction.
  • You need to grind the spices for the curry.
• Grinding (noun/adjective): The action of crushing or the sound/feeling associated with it.
  • The grinding of gears is a bad sign for the transmission.

Synonyms

• For the machine: mill, crusher, pulverizer.
• For the tooth: molar.
• For the sandwich: submarine, hoagie, sub, hero, torpedo.

Related Phrases

• Meat grinder: Literally, a machine for grinding meat. Figuratively, a situation or process that is brutal, destructive, or involves heavy casualties.
  • The battle was a meat grinder for both armies.
• To have/put one's nose to the grindstone: To work hard and persistently.
  • I have to put my nose to the grindstone to finish this project on time.

Idioms

• The daily grind: The monotonous routine of everyday work or life.
  • He was tired of the daily grind and dreamed of a long vacation.

Noun

1. a machine tool that polishes metal
2. machinery that processes materials by grinding or crushing
3. grinding tooth with a broad crown; located behind the premolars
4. a large sandwich made of a long crusty roll split lengthwise and filled with meats and cheese (and tomato and onion and lettuce and condiments); different names are used in different sections of the United States