GRAFT • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Graft

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/græft/ Listen

noun

Graft n.

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.

A branch or portion of a tree growing from such a shoot.

(Surg.) A portion of living tissue used in the operation of autoplasty.

Graft n.

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.)

A "soft thing" or "easy thing;" a "snap." (Slang)

verb

Graft v. t. (past & past part. grafted; pres. part. grafting)

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)

(Surg.) To implant a portion of (living flesh or akin) in a lesion so as to form an organic union.

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!"

(Naut.) To cover, as a ring bolt, block strap, splicing, etc., with a weaving of small cord or rope-yarns.

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

See images of 'Graft'

Etymology of 'Graft'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Graft" Quotes from Famous Books

... he wrote to an acquaintance, "I often think of the old days in Tacoma. We were a fighting bunch, and I think most of us are fighting for the same things that we fought for then; a little bit more decency and less graft in affairs, and a chance for a man to rise by ability and not ...

— The Letters of Franklin K. Lane • Franklin K. Lane

... more. Sometimes more persons are employed in government offices than there is any need for, or some of those employed are shirkers, or otherwise inefficient. There is wastefulness in the methods by which appropriations are made for the expenses of government. Sometimes there is "graft," by which public money is diverted to the private uses of officials, contractors, ...

— Community Civics and Rural Life • Arthur W. Dunn

... the soul compared to the grafting of a tree, if that be done without cutting? The Word is the graft, the soul is the tree, and the Word, as the scion, must be let in by a wound; for to stick on the outside, or to be tied on with a string, will do no good here. Heart must be set to heart, and back to back, or your pretended ingrafting will come to nothing ...

— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... trails Of passions curious, countless lives explored As I have done. And what are Greek and Latin, The lore of Aristotle, Plato to this? Since I know them by what I am, the essence From which their utterance came, myself a flower Of every graft and being in myself The recapitulation and the complex Of all the great. Were not brains before books? And even geometries in some brain Before old Gutenberg? O fie, Ben Jonson, If I am nature's child am I not all? Howe'er it be, ascribe ...

— Toward the Gulf • Edgar Lee Masters

... said Mrs Yabsley, smiling. "I didn't mean ter nark yer, but yer know wot I say is true. An' don't say I ever put it inter yer 'ead ter git married. You've studied the matter, an' yer know it means 'ard graft an' plenty of worry. There's nuthin' in it, Joe, as yer said, an' besides, the ...

— Jonah • Louis Stone

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