grate

UK/ˈɡɹeɪt/US/ˈɡɹeɪt/

verbB1+3 meanings Common in everyday speech and writing · #8,231 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: grating, grated, grates

To grate is to rub food against a rough metal sheet to shred it. Cheese, carrot, nutmeg.

The tool is a grater and the result is grated cheese. A second verb sounds identical and means to scrape harshly, as metal grates on stone, and from that comes the figurative use, where a voice grates or a habit grates on you after a week. The noun is different again: a grate is the metal frame holding coals in a fireplace, and a grating is the bars across a drain.

Definitions of grate

1verbgrateTo shred food by rubbing it on a rough metal surface.B1+
“Grate the cheese over the top.”
- Said"Can you grate the cheese while I do the onions?"
- WrittenShe grated a little nutmeg over the pudding and carried it to the table.
- UsedGrate the zest of one lemon finely, avoiding the white pith.
- ContrastGrate, don't slice. Slicing gives you pieces; grating gives you shreds. slice →
- Not thisYou don't grate a tomato. You chop it.
- SimplyGrate the carrot. It is good in salad.
Patterngrate + food (cheese, carrot, nutmeg) · grate sth over / into · finely / freshly grated · a grater
2verbharshTo make a harsh scraping sound, or to irritate steadily.B2
“His cheerfulness began to grate.”
3nounframeThe metal frame holding a fire in a hearth.C1
“Ash had built up in the grate.”

Remember it

grATE → the cheese you ATE before it reached the plate

Rub the cheese up and down the rough metal face, and it falls in tiny pieces — half of which you ate before it reached the plate.

Where it comes from

Latin
cratis
Medieval Latin
crāta
Middle English
grate
English, today
grate

From Middle English grate, from a Medieval Latin crāta, from a Latin word for a hurdle; or Italian grata, from Latin cratis.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Definitions of grate

1verbgrateTo shred food by rubbing it on a rough metal surface.B1+

“Grate the cheese over the top.”

Said"Can you grate the cheese while I do the onions?"
WrittenShe grated a little nutmeg over the pudding and carried it to the table.
UsedGrate the zest of one lemon finely, avoiding the white pith.
ContrastGrate, don't slice. Slicing gives you pieces; grating gives you shreds. slice →
Not thisYou don't grate a tomato. You chop it.
SimplyGrate the carrot. It is good in salad.

Patterngrate + food (cheese, carrot, nutmeg) · grate sth over / into · finely / freshly grated · a grater

2verbharshTo make a harsh scraping sound, or to irritate steadily.B2

“His cheerfulness began to grate.”

3nounframeThe metal frame holding a fire in a hearth.C1

“Ash had built up in the grate.”