Graft

Definitions

1. A small shoot or scion of a tree inserted in another tree, the stock of which is to support and nourish it. The two unite and become one tree, but the graft determines the kind of fruit.
2. A surname.
3. A ditch, a canal.
   obsolete
4. Corruption in official life.
   uncountable
5. A branch or portion of a tree growing from such a shoot.
6. The depth of the blade of a digging tool such as a spade or shovel.
7. Illicit profit by corrupt means, especially in public life.
   uncountable
8. A portion of living tissue used in the operation of autoplasty.
9. A narrow spade used in digging drainage trenches.
10. A criminal’s special branch of practice.
    slang, uncountable
11. A con job.
    countable
12. A cut of the take (money).
    countable, slang
13. A bribe, especially on an ongoing basis.
    US, uncountable
14. Work; labor requiring effort.
    British, colloquial, uncountable
15. A job or trade.
    British, colloquial, countable

Equivalents

Examples

“[…] in the first operation, we dug through the peat, the hard sand, and gravel, and one spade's graft (about nine inches deep, and seven inches wide) into the quick sand, the whole length of this drain,[…]”

“If policemen take⟳ graft now from the liquor dealers for the privilege of keeping open⟳ on Sunday, what is to prevent⟳ them, if this bill is passed, from taking graft from the liquor men for the privilege of selling liquor before 1 p.m. on Sunday[…]?”

“We had to put⟳ in a lot of hard graft to get⟳ the job done.”

“Liz Truss, now the Tory leadership frontrunner, launched an astonishing broadside against British workers, saying they needed “more graft” and suggesting they lacked the “skill and application” of foreign rivals, the Guardian can reveal⟳.”

CEFR level