grid

plural grids

1. A rectangular array of squares or rectangles of equal size, such as in a crossword puzzle.
2. A tiling of the plane with regular polygons; a honeycomb.
3. A system for delivery of electricity, consisting of various substations, transformers and generators, connected by wire.

   You can't turn off the building from here; you have to shut down the whole grid.

   1988, Die Hard (movie)

   1 more example

   [Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.

   2013 July 20, “Out of the gloom”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845

4. computingA system or structure of distributed computers working mostly on a peer-to-peer basis, used mainly to solve single and complex scientific or technical problems or to process data at high speeds (as in clusters).
5. cartographyA method of marking off maps into areas.
6. hobbiesThe pattern of starting positions of the drivers for a race.

   McLaren's Lewis Hamilton fought up from the back of the grid to eighth, with team-mate Jenson Button taking ninth.

   2012 May 13, Andrew Benson, “Williams's Pastor Maldonado takes landmark Spanish Grand Prix win”, in BBC Sport

7. businessThe third (or higher) electrode of a vacuum tube (triode or higher).
8. businessA battery-plate somewhat like a grating, especially a zinc plate in a primary battery, or a lead plate in a secondary or storage battery.
9. A grating of parallel bars; a gridiron.

   They camped that night at Dingo Creek, the fire Jim quickly made, Put the Billy on the cross-piece, pitched the tent, Brought a steak from 'neath the saddle-flap, and on the "grid" 'twas laid, A piece of rusty fencing wire, well bent.

   1897 October 10, The Truth, Sydney, page 8, column 3

10. broadcastingAn openwork ceiling above the stage or studio, used for affixing lights etc.

    Everything on the grid – all the backdrops and curtains, anything that has to move up and down from the fly-tower – has to be counterweighted.

    2018, Maggie Harcourt, Theatrical

11. AustraliaNew ZealandA bicycle.

    ‘Hop on the bar of my grid,’ said D'Arcy. ‘I'll double you round to meet some pals of ours.’

    1963, Ronald Hugh Morrieson, The Scarecrow, Text Classics, published 2012, page 80

present singular third person grids · participle present gridding · participle past gridded · past gridded

1. To mark with a grid.
2. To assign a reference grid to.
3. educationTo enter in a grid.

   On the SAT, to answer a grid-in question, you grid in your answer by filling out the ovals.

1. abbreviationacronymdatedoffensiveuncountablemedicineAcronym of gay-related immunodeficiency (“AIDS”).First known use Used in the early 1980s.

   The cause of the disorder is unknown. Researchers call it A.I.D., for acquired immunodeficiency disease, or GRID, for gay-related immunodeficiency. It has been reported in 20 states and seven countries.

   1982 May 11, Lawrence K. Altman, “New Homosexual Disorder Worries Health Officials”, in The New York Times

   Synonyms: acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, AIDS, 4H disease, gay cancer, gay plague, gay-related immunodeficiency