Word.ws English Dictionary

grinds

/ɡɹaɪndz/

grinds is the third-person singular simple present indicative of grind.

grinds is the plural of grind.

Noun

grinds

  1. (Ireland, colloquial) Tutoring; extra lessons in a specific subject outside of school hours.
    • You're not top of the class in English, he points out. She licks her teeth, unconcerned. Maybe you should give me grinds, Connell, she says.2018, Sally Rooney, Normal People, page 2
  2. (Hawaii, slang) Food, eats.
  3. (proscribed, coffee) Used ground coffee, coffee grounds.
    • That was a song that Ida sometimes sang, puttering inefficiently about the kitchen, which always seemed sandy with coffee grinds and vaguely immoral with dead cigarettes on the burnt, blistered paint of the shelves.1962, James Baldwin, Another Country, page 313

Meaning of grind

Verb

grind (third-person singular simple present grinds, present participle grinding, simple past and past participle ground or grinded)

  1. (transitive) To reduce to smaller pieces by crushing with lateral motion.
  2. (transitive) To shape with the force of friction.
    • grind a lens; grind an axe
  3. To remove material by rubbing with an abrasive surface.
  4. (intransitive) To become ground, pulverized, or polished by friction.
    • This corn grinds well.
  5. To move with much difficulty or friction; to grate.
  6. (intransitive) To slide the flat portion of a skateboard or snowboard across an obstacle such as a railing.

See all 26 meanings of grind

Phrases with grinds

Words that rhyme with grinds

Questions about grinds

What does grinds mean?
Grinds means tutoring; extra lessons in a specific subject outside of school hours.
What is grinds the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Grinds is the third-person singular simple present indicative of grind.
What part of speech is grinds?
Grinds is a noun.
How do you pronounce grinds?
Grinds is pronounced /ɡɹaɪndz/.

Words near grinds in the dictionary

  1. Grindley Brook
  2. Grindleys
  3. Grindon
  4. Grindon and Thorpe Thewles
  5. Grindrod
  6. grinds
  7. grinds down
  8. grinds one's gears
  9. grinds out
  10. grinds the corn
  11. grinds up

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: grinds (page history and authors); grind (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-grinds.ogg.

Cite this entry: “grinds.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/grinds. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.