Found 2 items, similar to grains of paradise.
English → English (WordNet) Definition: grains of paradise grains of paradise n : West African plant bearing pungent peppery seeds [syn: Guinea grains , Guinea pepper, melagueta pepper, Aframomum melegueta ]
English → English (gcide) Definition: Grains of paradise Grain \Grain\ (gr[=a]n), n. [F. grain, L. granum, grain, seed, small kernel, small particle. See Corn, and cf. Garner, n., Garnet, Gram the chick-pea, Granule, Kernel.] [1913 Webster] 1. A single small hard seed; a kernel, especially of those plants, like wheat, whose seeds are used for food. [1913 Webster] 2. The fruit of certain grasses which furnish the chief food of man, as corn, wheat, rye, oats, etc., or the plants themselves; -- used collectively. [1913 Webster] Storehouses crammed with grain. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 3. Any small, hard particle, as of sand, sugar, salt, etc.; hence, any minute portion or particle; as, a grain of gunpowder, of pollen, of starch, of sense, of wit, etc. [1913 Webster] I . . . with a grain of manhood well resolved. --Milton. [1913 Webster] 4. The unit of the English system of weights; -- so called because considered equal to the average of grains taken from the middle of the ears of wheat. 7,000 grains constitute the pound avoirdupois, and 5,760 grains the pound troy. A grain is equal to .0648 gram. See Gram. [1913 Webster] 5. A reddish dye made from the coccus insect, or kermes; hence, a red color of any tint or hue, as crimson, scarlet, etc.; sometimes used by the poets as equivalent to Tyrian purple. [1913 Webster] All in a robe of darkest grain. --Milton. [1913 Webster] Doing as the dyers do, who, having first dipped their silks in colors of less value, then give' them the last tincture of crimson in grain. --Quoted by Coleridge, preface to Aids to Reflection. [1913 Webster] 6. The composite particles of any substance; that arrangement of the particles of any body which determines its comparative roughness or hardness; texture; as, marble, sugar, sandstone, etc., of fine grain. [1913 Webster] Hard box, and linden of a softer grain. --Dryden. [1913 Webster] 7. The direction, arrangement, or appearance of the fibers in wood, or of the strata in stone, slate, etc. [1913 Webster] Knots, by the conflux of meeting sap, Infect the sound pine and divert his grain Tortive and errant from his course of growth. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 8. The fiber which forms the substance of wood or of any fibrous material. [1913 Webster] 9. The hair side of a piece of leather, or the marking on that side. --Knight. [1913 Webster] 10. pl. The remains of grain, etc., after brewing or distillation; hence, any residuum. Also called draff. [1913 Webster] 11. (Bot.) A rounded prominence on the back of a sepal, as in the common dock. See Grained, a., 4. [1913 Webster] 12. Temper; natural disposition; inclination. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] Brothers . . . not united in grain. --Hayward. [1913 Webster] 13. A sort of spice, the grain of paradise. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] He cheweth grain and licorice, To smellen sweet. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] Against the grain, against or across the direction of the fibers; hence, against one's wishes or tastes; unwillingly; unpleasantly; reluctantly; with difficulty. --Swift. --Saintsbury. A grain of allowance, a slight indulgence or latitude a small allowance. Grain binder, an attachment to a harvester for binding the grain into sheaves. Grain colors, dyes made from the coccus or kermes insect. Grain leather. (a) Dressed horse hides. (b) Goat, seal, and other skins blacked on the grain side for women's shoes, etc. Grain moth (Zo["o]l.), one of several small moths, of the family Tineid[ae] (as Tinea granella and Butalis cerealella ), whose larv[ae] devour grain in storehouses. Grain side (Leather), the side of a skin or hide from which the hair has been removed; -- opposed to flesh side. Grains of paradise, the seeds of a species of amomum. grain tin, crystalline tin ore metallic tin smelted with charcoal. Grain weevil (Zo["o]l.), a small red weevil (Sitophilus granarius ), which destroys stored wheat and other grain, by eating out the interior. Grain worm (Zo["o]l.), the larva of the grain moth. See grain moth, above. In grain, of a fast color; deeply seated; fixed; innate; genuine. “Anguish in grain.” --Herbert. To dye in grain, to dye of a fast color by means of the coccus or kermes grain [see Grain, n., 5]; hence, to dye firmly; also, to dye in the wool, or in the raw material. See under Dye. [1913 Webster] The red roses flush up in her cheeks . . . Likce crimson dyed in grain. --Spenser. To go against the grain of (a person), to be repugnant to; to vex, irritate, mortify, or trouble. [1913 Webster] Paradise \Par"a*dise\ (p[a^]r"[.a]*d[imac]s), n. [OE. & F. paradis, L. paradisus, fr. Gr. para`deisos park, paradise, fr. Zend pairida[=e]za an inclosure; pairi around (akin to Gr. peri`) + diz to throw up, pile up; cf. Skr. dih to smear, and E. dough. Cf. Parvis.] [1913 Webster] 1. The garden of Eden, in which Adam and Eve were placed after their creation. [1913 Webster] 2. The abode of sanctified souls after death. [1913 Webster] To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise. --Luke xxiii. 43. [1913 Webster] It sounds to him like her mother's voice, Singing in Paradise. --Longfellow. [1913 Webster] 3. A place of bliss; a region of supreme felicity or delight; hence, a state of happiness. [1913 Webster] The earth Shall be all paradise. --Milton. [1913 Webster] Wrapt in the very paradise of some creative vision. --Beaconsfield. [1913 Webster] 4. (Arch.) An open space within a monastery or adjoining a church, as the space within a cloister, the open court before a basilica, etc. [1913 Webster] 5. A churchyard or cemetery. [Obs.] --Oxf. Gloss. [1913 Webster] Fool's paradise. See under Fool, and Limbo. Grains of paradise. (Bot.) See Melequeta pepper, under Pepper. Paradise bird. (Zo["o]l.) Same as Bird of paradise. Among the most beautiful species are the superb (Lophorina superba ); the magnificent (Diphyllodes magnifica); and the six-shafted paradise bird (Parotia sefilata). The long-billed paradise birds (Epimachin[ae]) also include some highly ornamental species, as the twelve-wired paradise bird (Seleucides alba), which is black, yellow, and white, with six long breast feathers on each side, ending in long, slender filaments. See Bird of paradise in the Vocabulary. Paradise fish (Zo["o]l.), a beautiful fresh-water Asiatic fish (Macropodus viridiauratus) having very large fins. It is often kept alive as an ornamental fish. Paradise flycatcher (Zo["o]l.), any flycatcher of the genus Terpsiphone, having the middle tail feathers extremely elongated. The adult male of Terpsiphone paradisi is white, with the head glossy dark green, and crested. Paradise grackle (Zo["o]l.), a very beautiful bird of New Guinea, of the genus Astrapia, having dark velvety plumage with brilliant metallic tints. Paradise nut (Bot.), the sapucaia nut. See Sapucaia nut. [Local, U. S.] Paradise whidah bird. (Zo["o]l.) See Whidah. [1913 Webster]