grind down

vt sep (lit) (mill) pepper etc → zermahlen; (sea) rocks → abschleifen; (fig) people, resistance → zermürben; ground down by poverty → von Armut niedergedrückt

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

grind

(graind) – past tense, past participle ground (graund) – verb

1. to crush into powder or small pieces. This machine grinds coffee.

2. to rub together, usually producing an unpleasant noise. He grinds his teeth.

3. to rub into or against something else. He ground his heel into the earth.

noun

boring hard work. Learning vocabulary is a bit of a grind.

ˈgrinder noun

a person or machine that grinds. a coffee-grinder.

ˈgrinding adjective

1. with a sound of grinding. The train came to a grinding stop.

2. severe. grinding poverty.

ˈgrindstone noun

a wheel-shaped stone against which knives are sharpened as it turns.

grind down

to crush. She was ground down by poverty.

grind up

to grind into powder or small pieces. This machine grinds up rocks.

keep (some)one's nose to the grindstone

to (force someone to) work hard, without stopping.

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References in classic literature ?

They saw men who were strong oppress the weak and grind down the poor, and so they told the story of the Quest of the Holy Grail to try to make them a little better.

View in context

On such an evening, when the city grit gets into the hair and eyes and skin, and when the fallen leaves of the few unhappy city trees grind down in corners under wheels of wind, the schoolmaster and the pupil emerged upon the Leadenhall Street region, spying eastward for Lizzie.

View in context

We must not now reverse the wonder, and doubt whether all-powerful time can grind down mountains -- even the gigantic Cordillera -- into-gravel and mud.

View in context

Later his teeth grind down on politics and gristle.

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