grill means A grating; a grid of wire or a sheet of material with a pattern of holes or slots, usually used to protect something while allowing the passage of air and liquids. Typical uses: to allow air through a fan while preventing fingers or objects from passing; to allow people to talk to somebody, while preventing attack.
grill is pronounced /ɡɹɪl/.
Etymology
1655, from French gril, from Middle French gril, from Old French greïl, graïl (“gridiron”), from graïlle (“grate, grating”), from Latin crātīcula (“gridiron”), diminutive of crātis (“hurdle, wickerwork”), q.v. Related to griddle, hurdle.
noun
- A grating; a grid of wire or a sheet of material with a pattern of holes or slots, usually used to protect something while allowing the passage of air and liquids. Typical uses: to allow air through a fan while preventing fingers or objects from passing; to allow people to talk to somebody, while preventing attack.
- The criss-cross pieces that separate panes of glass in a window.e.g.“The house was a big elaborate limestone affair, evidently new. Winter sunshine sparkled on lace-hung casement, on glass marquise, and the burnished bronze foliations of grille and door.” — 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
- On a vehicle, a slotted cover as above, to protect and hide the radiator, while admitting air to cool it.
- A cooking device comprising a source of radiative heat and a means of holding food under it; a broiler in US English
- A cooking device comprising a source of radiative and convective heat and a means of holding food above it; a barbecue.e.g.“I put some peppers and mushrooms on the grill to go with dinner.”
- Food (designed to be) cooked on a grill.e.g.“a packet of frozen cauliflower cheese grills”
- A grillroom; a restaurant serving grilled food.e.g.“These coupons will get you a discount at Johnny's Bar and Grill.”
- A type of jewelry worn on the front teeth.e.g.“Nella wished him luck and started to walk away, still unsure if that glint in his mouth was a grill or just a few golden teeth.” — 2021, Zakiya Dalila Harris, The Other Black Girl, Bloomsbury, page 213:
- The front teeth regarded collectively.
- Harm.
verb
- To cook (food) on a grill; to barbecue.e.g.“Why don't we get together Saturday and grill some burgers?”
- To cook food under the element of a stove or only under the top element of an oven – (US) broil, (cooking) salamander.e.g.“Bradly hung the fowl in a sugar-bag for to-morrow's dinner and set about grilling chops, with tomatoes stuffed with cheese and breadcrumbs in the pan.” — 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 139:
- To interrogate; to question aggressively or harshly.e.g.“The police grilled him about his movements at the time of the crime.”
- To feel very hot; to swelter.e.g.“He had grilled in the heat, sweated in the rains, and shivered with fever under the rude thatch roof; […]” — 1898, Rudyard Kipling, The Day's Work:
- To stamp or mark with a grill.
- To stare at.
- To make angry; provoke; offend, incite.
- To terrify; make tremble.
- To tremble; shiver.
- To snarl; snap.
adj
- Harsh, rough, severe; cruel.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).