grit

grit
    n 1: a hard coarse-grained siliceous sandstone [syn: {grit},
         {gritrock}, {gritstone}]
    2: fortitude and determination; "he didn't have the guts to try
       it" [syn: {backbone}, {grit}, {guts}, {moxie}, {sand},
       {gumption}]
    v 1: cover with a grit; "grit roads"
    2: clench together; "grit one's teeth"
    

Grit \Grit\ (gr[i^]t), v. i.
   To give forth a grating sound, as sand under the feet; to
   grate; to grind.
   [1913 Webster]

         The sanded floor that grits beneath the tread.
                                                  --Goldsmith.
   [1913 Webster]
    

Grit \Grit\, n. [OE, greet, greot, sand, gravel, AS. gre['o]t
   grit, sant, dust; akin to OS griott, OFries. gret gravel,
   OHG. grioz, G. griess, Icel. grj[=o]t, and to E. groats,
   grout. See {Groats}, {Grout}, and cf. {Grail} gravel.]
   1. Sand or gravel; rough, hard particles.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The coarse part of meal.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. pl. Grain, esp. oats or wheat, hulled and coarsely ground;
      in high milling, fragments of cracked wheat smaller than
      groats.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. (Geol.) A hard, coarse-grained siliceous sandstone; as,
      millstone grit; -- called also {gritrock} and {gritstone.}
      The name is also applied to a finer sharp-grained
      sandstone; as, grindstone grit.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. Structure, as adapted to grind or sharpen; as, a hone of
      good grit.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. Firmness of mind; invincible spirit; unyielding courage;
      fortitude. --C. Reade. --E. P. Whipple.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Grit \Grit\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Gritted}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Gritting}.]
   To grind; to rub harshly together; to grate; as, to grit the
   teeth. [Collog.]
   [1913 Webster]
    

89 Moby Thesaurus words for "grit":
      air pollution, attritus, backbone, bottle, bottom, bran, bravery,
      breccia, chafe, chutzpah, cosmic dust, courage, courageousness,
      crumb, crumble, dauntlessness, debris, determination, detritus,
      doughtiness, dust, dust ball, efflorescence, exacerbate, fallout,
      farina, fearlessness, filings, firmness, flour, fortitude, fret,
      gall, gameness, grain, granule, granulet, grate, grate on, gravel,
      grits, groats, guts, gutsiness, guttiness, hardihood, hardiness,
      heart, heart of oak, intestinal fortitude, intrepidity,
      intrepidness, irritate, kittens, lint, meal, mettle,
      mettlesomeness, moxie, nerve, pith, pluck, pluckiness, powder,
      provoke, pussies, rasp, raspings, resoluteness, resolution,
      resolve, sand, sawdust, set on edge, shingle, smut, soot, spirit,
      spunk, spunkiness, stalwartness, stamina, starch, staunchness,
      stout heart, tenacity, toughness, true grit, valor