From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishgraftgraft1 /ɡrɑːft $ ɡræft/ noun 1 [countable]MH a piece of healthy skin or bone taken from someone’s body and put in or on another part of their body that has been damaged Martha had to have several skin grafts.2 [countable]DLGTA a piece cut from one plant and tied to or put inside a cut in another, so that it grows there3 [uncountable] especially British English informalWORK HARD hard work Our success has been due to sheer hard graft.4 [uncountable] especially American EnglishDISHONEST the practice of obtaining money or advantage by the dishonest use of influence or power He promised to end graft in public life.
Examples from the Corpus
graft• About 40 percent of her diseased liver was removed and replaced with a graft from a healthy liver.• In Springfield you could tell real fast which men were there for girls, games, and graft.• People once accepted government greed and graft with a shrug of resignation.• Murders, theft, rape, calumnies, graft - our daily bread.• Stevens was in court yesterday facing charges of graft and tax evasion.• A major investigation is underway to root out graft there, he said.• A major investigation is under way to root out graft there, they said.• I've got gravel wounds in my back and my leg hurts where they took a skin graft.• About 30 % of such grafts fail in two to five years and 50 % within 10 years.skin grafts• Jay Burns has undergone 18 skin grafts since the horrible accident three years ago, an accident that nearly destroyed his life.hard graft• Horses are not stupid and will soon grasp how to avoid hard graft!• All you need is £8,000 and about two months hard graft, as one Clwyd farmer found out.• A mere £8,000, plus two months of hard graft.• It's hard graft getting it out of her.• The bomb and the bullet of course provide more dramatic reportage than hard graft, the golf club and fishing rod.• You're standing hunched up with the dull awareness of the hard graft.• The hard graft may be persuading him or her to do the job. graftgraft2 verb 1 [transitive]MH to remove a piece of skin, bone etc from part of someone’s body and put it onto or into a part of their body that has been damagedgraft something onto/to something The technique involves grafting a very thin slice of bone onto the damaged knee.2 [transitive + on/onto]DLGTA to join a part of a plant or tree onto another plant or tree3 MIX[transitive] to add something very different to something, so that it becomes part of itgraft something onto something New elements are being grafted onto our traditional form of government.graft something on It is a 17th-century farmhouse with some Victorian additions grafted on.4 [intransitive] especially British English informalWORK HARD to work hard → graft off somebody→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
graft• I made a note to myself to come back in early spring to get scions for grafting.• Kallicharran took nearly two and a half hours over 34, while Fredericks was grafting away at the other end.• By grafting in another eyecup another lens can be induced to form from the overlying layer.• If they are grafted on to existing vocational education-representing a change in name only-we will be worse off than when we started.• The political parade was grafted onto the Frontier Days celebration.• If one could only graft the best aspects of Scimone and Devos on to one another, the roof would really lift off!• After being grafted, the joints are dipped into paraffin wax for protection.• They grafted themselves, in fact, on to a much older, more primitive and powerful religious life.• Husbands and wives were bound by deep ties-like two branches grafted together.graft something onto something• Clippings from the tree are being grafted onto existing seedlings.• Doctors grafted skin from Mike's arm onto his face where it was burned.From Longman Business Dictionarygraftgraft1 /grɑːftgræft/ noun [uncountable]1British English informal hard workHe put his success down to stamina, resilience, and sheer hard graft.2especially American English when money or advantage is obtained by using power or influence in a dishonest wayThe whole system is full of corruption and graft.graftgraft2 verb British English informal to work hard → graft something onto something→ See Verb tableOrigin graft1 (1400-1500) graff “graft” ((14-19 centuries)), from Old French grafe “pencil, graft”, from Greek graphein “to write”; because a plant graft looks like a pencil 