different between graft vs grafter

English

Alternative forms

• graff

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /????ft/
• (US, Northern England) IPA^(key): /??æft/
• Rhymes: -??ft, -æft

Etymology 1

From Middle English graffe, from Old French greffe (“stylus”), from Latin graphium (“stylus”), from Ancient Greek ???????? (grapheíon), from ??????? (gráphein, “to write”); probably akin to English carve. So named from the resemblance of a scion or shoot to a pointed pencil. Compare graphic, grammar.

Noun

graft (countable and uncountable, plural grafts)

1. (countable) 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.
2. (countable) A branch or portion of a tree growing from such a shoot.
3. (surgery, countable) A portion of living tissue used in the operation of autoplasty.

Translations

Verb

graft (third-person singular simple present grafts, present participle grafting, simple past and past participle grafted)

1. (transitive) 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.
2. (intransitive) To insert scions (grafts) from one tree, or kind of tree, etc., into another; to practice grafting.
3. (transitive, surgery) To implant a portion of (living flesh or akin) in a lesion so as to form an organic union.
4. (transitive) To join (one thing) to another as if by grafting, so as to bring about a close union.
5. (transitive, nautical) To cover, as a ring bolt, block strap, splicing, etc., with a weaving of small cord or rope-yarns.
6. (chemistry) To form a graft polymer

Synonyms

• (to join as if by grafting): affix, attach, put together, unite; see also Thesaurus:join

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch graft (“canal”), from graven (“dig”). The contemporary senses “depth of digging blade” and “narrow spade” may have a separate history, but this is uncertain. Compare Old Norse gr?ft (“the action of digging”). Attested from the 17th century.

Noun

graft (plural grafts)

1. (obsolete) A ditch, a canal.
2. The depth of the blade of a digging tool such as a spade or shovel.
3. A narrow spade used in digging drainage trenches.

Derived terms

• grafting tool

Etymology 3

Uncertain. Some lexicographers suggest an extended use of Etymology 2, above, expanding from “digging” to work more generally, and from there to dishonest work. Others, however, suggest an extension from Etymology 1, shifting from “a shoot or scion” to the notion of corruption through the idea of excrescence.

Noun

graft (countable and uncountable, plural grafts)

1. (uncountable) Corruption in official life.
2. (uncountable) Illicit profit by corrupt means, especially in public life.
3. (uncountable, slang) A criminal’s special branch of practice.
4. (countable) A con job.
5. (countable, slang) A cut of the take (money).
6. (uncountable, US, politics) A bribe, especially on an ongoing basis.
7. (Britain) (uncountable, colloquial) Work; labor
8. (Britain) (countable, colloquial) A job or trade.
9. (Britain) (uncountable, colloquial) Effort needed for doing hard work.

Translations

Verb

graft (third-person singular simple present grafts, present participle grafting, simple past and past participle grafted)

1. To work.
2. To obtain illegal gain from bribery or similar corrupt practices.

Derived terms

• grafter (“grifter”)

Derived terms

• grift

References

• graft in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911. See supplements.

Dutch

Pronunciation

Noun

graft f (plural graften, diminutive graftje n)

1. (chiefly Holland) Obsolete form of gracht (“canal”).

Noun

graft n (plural graften, diminutive graftje n)

1. Obsolete form of gracht (“grave”).

West Frisian

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch graft.

Noun

graft c (plural graften, diminutive graftsje)

1. Alternative form of grêft.

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

graft +? -er

Noun

grafter (plural grafters)

1. One who inserts scions on other stocks, or propagates fruit by engrafting.
2. An instrument by which grafting is facilitated.
3. The original tree from which a scion has been taken for grafting upon another tree.
4. (slang) Someone who works in market stalls.

Related terms

• graft

Translations

Etymology 2

From graft +? -er.

Noun

grafter (plural grafters)

1. A corrupt person, one who receives graft.
   • 1911, The Twentieth Century Magazine, Vol. 4, page 335.

   • 1980, David Mark Chalmers, The Muchrake Years, Krieger Publishing Company, ?ISBN, page 152.

   • 2007, Rebecca Menes, "Limiting the Reach of the Grabbing Hand: Graft and growth in American Cities, 1880 to 1930", in Edward L. Glaeser, Claudia Goldin (eds.), Corruption and Reform: Lessons from America's Economic History, National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report, The University of Chicago Press, ?ISBN, page 64.

Related terms

• graft

Anagrams

• regraft