Other forms: grids
A grid is a set of lines crossing at right angles, making a field of squares. Graph paper, a crossword before anyone fills it in, the faint squares printed on a map, the lines an artist rules over a photo to copy it one square at a time.
Cities get laid out on a grid — straight streets crossing straight avenues, Manhattan being the standard example. The electricity network is the grid as well: power stations feed the national grid, and living off-grid means running a house without it. On a map a grid reference is the pair of numbers that pins a point down; in motor racing the starting grid is the marked boxes the cars line up in; gridlock is traffic jammed solid in every direction at once. Careful with the near neighbours: the metal cover over a drain is a grating or a grille, not a grid. A grid is the pattern of lines, not the sheet it is drawn on.
1noungridA pattern of lines crossing at right angles.
“Draw a grid of six squares across the page.”
2nountownA town layout of straight streets crossing each other.
“The old town is a maze, but the new part is laid out on a grid.”
3nounnetworkThe network that carries electricity around a country.
“The wind farm feeds power straight into the grid.”
4nounmarkedThe marked area where racing cars line up at the start.
“He starts from third on the grid.”
grid is a pattern of lines.
Grid is a piece cut off a longer word: gridiron, the frame of iron bars laid over a fire for cooking, which also stands behind griddle. Shorten it and what remains is the bars themselves — straight lines crossing at right angles. Crosswords, city plans and the national grid all trace back to a cooking frame.
a back-formation from or a clipping of griddle,gridiron.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA