graft

Etymology 1

From Middle English graffe, from Old French greffe (“stylus”), from Latin graphium (“stylus”), from Ancient Greek γραφείον (grapheíon), from γράφειν (gráphein, “to write”); probably akin to English carve. So named from the resemblance of a scion or shoot to a pointed pencil. Doublet of graphium. Compare graphic, grammar.

noun

1. (countable) 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. (countable) A branch or portion of a tree growing from such a shoot.
3. (surgery, countable) A portion of living tissue used in the operation of autoplasty.

verb

1. (transitive) To insert (a graft) in a branch or stem of another tree; to propagate by insertion in another stock; also, to insert a graft upon.
2. (intransitive) To insert scions (grafts) from one tree, or kind of tree, etc., into another; to practice grafting.
3. (transitive, surgery) To implant a portion of (living flesh or akin) in a lesion so as to form an organic union.
4. (transitive) To join (one thing) to another as if by grafting, so as to bring about a close union.
   And graft my love immortal on thy fame! 1717, Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard.
   Of course, this was a music cruise, a floating rock festival grafted onto a passenger ship, and a quietly thriving corner of the music and cruise industries. 2012-03-30, Joe Levy, “Rockers at Sea”, in The New York Times
5. (transitive, nautical) To cover, as a ring bolt, block strap, splicing, etc., with a weaving of small cord or rope yarns.
6. (chemistry) To form a graft polymer

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch graft (“canal”), from graven (“dig”). The contemporary senses “depth of digging blade” and “narrow spade” may have a separate history, but this is uncertain. Compare Old Norse grǫft (“the action of digging”). Attested from the 17th century.

noun

1. (obsolete) A ditch, a canal.
2. The depth of the blade of a digging tool such as a spade or shovel.
   […] 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,[…] 1798 [1792], Memoirs of Science and the Arts, Transactions of the Society instituted at London for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, page 117
3. A narrow spade used in digging drainage trenches.

Etymology 3

Uncertain. Some lexicographers suggest an extended use of Etymology 2, above, expanding from “digging” to work more generally, and from there to dishonest work. Others, however, suggest an extension from Etymology 1, shifting from “a shoot or scion” to the notion of corruption through the idea of excrescence.

noun

1. (uncountable) Corruption in official life.
2. (uncountable) Illicit profit by corrupt means, especially in public life.
3. (uncountable, slang) A criminal’s special branch of practice.
4. (countable) A con job.
5. (countable, slang) A cut of the take (money).
6. (uncountable, US, politics) A bribe, especially on an ongoing basis.
   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[…]? 1910, O.R. Miller, The Reform Bulletin
7. (uncountable, Britain, colloquial) Work; labor requiring effort.
   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. 2022-08-16, Pippa Crerar, quoting Liz Truss, “Leaked audio reveals Liz Truss said British workers needed ‘more graft’”, in The Guardian
8. (countable, Britain, colloquial) A job or trade.

verb

1. (colloquial, intransitive) To work hard.
2. To obtain illegal gain from bribery or similar corrupt practices.