The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - grind v.

1) pound, powder, pulverize, abrade, crush, granulate, mill, grate, rasp, crumble, kibble, mash, triturate, bray, comminute: The rock was soon ground to a fine powder. 2) sharpen, whet; file, smooth, polish: He is grinding the edge to be razor sharp. 3) gnash, grit, grate: He grinds his teeth when he's angry. 4) Also, grind away. labour, toil, slave (away) ; study, lucubrate, burn the midnight oil, Colloq cram, Brit swot: George has been grinding away at the same job all his life. Languages came easily, but he had to grind away at the sciences. 5 grind down. wear down or away, crush, oppress, subdue, suppress, tyrannize, persecute, maltreat, ill-treat, harry, harass, hound, hector, plague, badger: Dictators first grind down all opposition, then destroy it. 6) grind out. produce, generate, crank out, churn out, turn out: For 20 years he has been grinding out the daily gossip column. --n. 7) toil, labour, drudgery, travail, exertion, task, chore: Working at the checkout counter hour after hour is a terrible grind.