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.
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         The sanded floor that grits beneath the tread.
                                                  --Goldsmith.
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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.
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   2. The coarse part of meal.
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   3. pl. Grain, esp. oats or wheat, hulled and coarsely ground;
      in high milling, fragments of cracked wheat smaller than
      groats.
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   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.
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   5. Structure, as adapted to grind or sharpen; as, a hone of
      good grit.
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   6. Firmness of mind; invincible spirit; unyielding courage;
      fortitude. --C. Reade. --E. P. Whipple.
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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.]
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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