Graft

/ɡɹɑːft/ · noun

Meaning

(horticulture) 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..

Definitions by Sense

1. (horticulture) 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. (horticulture) A branch or portion of a tree growing from such a shoot.
3. (surgery) A portion of living tissue used in the operation of autoplasty.
4. (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.
5. (intransitive) To insert scions (grafts) from one tree, or kind of tree, etc., into another; to practice grafting.
6. (transitive, surgery) To implant a portion of (living flesh or akin) in a lesion so as to form an organic union.
7. (transitive) To join (one thing) to another as if by grafting, so as to bring about a close union.
8. (transitive, nautical) To cover, as a ring bolt, block strap, splicing, etc., with a weaving of small cord or rope yarns.

Example Sentences

And graft my love immortal on thy fame!

Of course, this was a music cruise, a floating rock festival grafted onto a passenger ship, and a quietly thriving corner of the music and cruise industries.

[…] in the first operation, we dug through the peat, the hard sand, and gravel, and one spade's graft (about nine inches deep, and seven inches wide) into the quick sand, the whole length of this drain,[…]

If policemen take graft now from the liquor dealers for the privilege of keeping open on Sunday, what is to prevent them, if this bill is passed, from taking graft from the liquor men for the privilege of selling liquor before 1 p.m. on Sunday[…]?

We had to put in a lot of hard graft to get the job done.

Liz Truss, now the Tory leadership frontrunner, launched an astonishing broadside against British workers, saying they needed “more graft” and suggesting they lacked the “skill and application” of foreign rivals, the Guardian can reveal.

Synonyms for graft

Antonyms for graft

Related Words

Word Forms

• grafts
• graff
• grafting
• grafted

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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