The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Grind \Grind\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ground; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Grinding.] [AS. grindan; perh. akin to L. frendere to
   gnash, grind. Cf. Grist.]
   1. To reduce to powder by friction, as in a mill, or with the
      teeth; to crush into small fragments; to produce as by the
      action of millstones.
      [1913 Webster]

            Take the millstones, and grind meal.  --Is. xivii.
                                                  2.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To wear down, polish, or sharpen, by friction; to make
      smooth, sharp, or pointed; to whet, as a knife or drill;
      to rub against one another, as teeth, etc.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To oppress by severe exactions; to harass.
      [1913 Webster]

            To grind the subject or defraud the prince.
                                                  --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To study hard for examination; -- commonly used with away;
      as, to grind away at one's studies. [College Slang]
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Grind \Grind\, v. i.
   1. To perform the operation of grinding something; to turn
      the millstones.
      [1913 Webster]

            Send thee
            Into the common prison, there to grind. --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To become ground or pulverized by friction; as, this corn
      grinds well.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To become polished or sharpened by friction; as, glass
      grinds smooth; steel grinds to a sharp edge.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To move with much difficulty or friction; to grate.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. To perform hard and distasteful service; to drudge; to
      study hard, as for an examination. --Farrar.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Grind \Grind\, n.
   1. The act of reducing to powder, or of sharpening, by
      friction.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Any severe continuous work or occupation; esp., hard and
      uninteresting study. [Colloq.] --T. Hughes.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. A student that studies hard; a dig; a wonk. [College
      Slang]
      [1913 Webster +PJC]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

grind
    n 1: an insignificant student who is ridiculed as being affected
         or boringly studious [syn: swot, grind, nerd, wonk,
         dweeb]
    2: the grade of particle fineness to which a substance is
       ground; "a coarse grind of coffee"
    3: hard monotonous routine work [syn: drudgery, plodding,
       grind, donkeywork]
    4: the act of grinding to a powder or dust [syn: grind,
       mill, pulverization, pulverisation]
    v 1: press or grind with a crushing noise [syn: crunch,
         cranch, craunch, grind]
    2: make a grating or grinding sound by rubbing together; "grate
       one's teeth in anger" [syn: grate, grind]
    3: work hard; "She was digging away at her math homework";
       "Lexicographers drudge all day long" [syn: labor, labour,
       toil, fag, travail, grind, drudge, dig, moil]
    4: dance by rotating the pelvis in an erotically suggestive way,
       often while in contact with one's partner such that the
       dancers' legs are interlaced
    5: reduce to small pieces or particles by pounding or abrading;
       "grind the spices in a mortar"; "mash the garlic" [syn:
       grind, mash, crunch, bray, comminute]
    6: created by grinding; "grind designs into the glass bowl"
    7: shape or form by grinding; "grind lenses for glasses and
       cameras"

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

367 Moby Thesaurus words for "grind":
   ablate, abrade, abrase, aculeate, acuminate, afflict, agonize, ail,
   application, atomize, badger, barb, bark, beast of burden, beat,
   beat down, beaten path, belch, bibliolater, bibliolatrist,
   bibliomane, bibliomaniac, bibliophage, bibliophile, bibliophilist,
   bite, blare, blat, bone, boning, booklover, bookworm, brainwork,
   bray, break, break into pieces, break to pieces, break up,
   brecciate, browbeat, bulldoze, bully, bureaucracy, bureaucratism,
   burn, burr, buzz, cackle, castrate, caw, chafe, champ, chaw, chew,
   chew the cud, chew up, chinoiserie, chirr, chomp, chore, churn out,
   clamp down on, clang, clangor, clank, clash, coerce, comminute,
   compel, con, conning, contemplate, contemplation, contriturate,
   convulse, cow, cram, cramming, crash, craunch, croak, crucify,
   crumb, crumble, crump, crunch, crush, cuspidate, cut,
   cut to pieces, daily grind, daunt, demolish, despotize, diffuse,
   dig, dirty work, disintegrate, disperse, disrupt, distress,
   domineer, domineer over, donkeywork, drill, drudge, drudgery, edge,
   elucubrate, emery, employment, engrossment, enslave, erase, erode,
   examine, excruciate, exercise, exertion, extensive study, fag,
   failing student, fatigue, fester, file, fission, flour, fragment,
   fray, frazzle, fret, gall, galley slave, generate, give pain,
   gnash, gnaw, gnaw away, go over, grain, granulate, granulize,
   grate, graze, greasy grind, grind down, grind to powder, grinding,
   gripe, grit, groan, groove, growl, grub, grumble, gum, hack,
   hammer, hammer away, handiwork, handwork, harass, harrow, harry,
   headwork, hector, henpeck, hone, hound, hurt, ill-treat, industry,
   inflame, inflict pain, inspection, intimidate, irritate, jangle,
   jar, jog trot, keep down, keep under, kill by inches, labor,
   lacerate, levigate, lick, lick of work, lord it over, lucubrate,
   lucubration, make mincemeat of, maltreat, manual labor, martyr,
   martyrize, mash, masticate, mental labor, mill, mince, moil, mouth,
   muck, mugger, mumble, munch, nibble, nip, oilstone, oppress,
   overachiever, overawe, overbear, overmaster, override, pace, pain,
   peg, peg away, persecute, perusal, peruse, pestle, philobiblist,
   pierce, pinch, plague, plod, plodder, plug, plug along, plug away,
   plugging, plunge into, point, polish, pore over, pound, pound away,
   powder, practice, press heavy on, prick, produce,
   prolong the agony, pulverize, pumice, put to torture, rack, rankle,
   rasp, rat race, raze, read, reading, red tape, red-tapeism,
   reduce to powder, regard studiously, repress, reset, restudy,
   restudying, review, ride over, ride roughshod over, rote, round,
   routine, rub, rub away, rub off, rub out, ruminate, run, rut, sand,
   sandblast, sandpaper, scatter, scour, scranch, scrape, scratch,
   scrub, scrunch, scuff, scut work, set, shard, sharpen, shatter,
   shiver, shred, skin, slave, slavery, slog, slogger, smash,
   smash up, smooth, snarl, snore, spadework, spiculate, splinter,
   spur, squash, squirrel cage, squish, stab, sting, strap, stroke,
   stroke of work, strop, study, studying, subdue, subject, subjugate,
   suppress, sweat, swot, swotter, swotting, taper, task, terrorize,
   tiresome work, toil, torment, torture, track, trample down,
   trample upon, travail, tread down, tread upon, treadmill,
   triturate, turn out, twang, tweak, twist, tyrannize,
   tyrannize over, underachiever, unman, vet, wade through,
   walk all over, walk over, wear, wear away, wear down,
   weigh heavy on, well-worn groove, whet, wide reading, work,
   work away, workhorse, wound, wring



The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):

grind
 vt.

    1. [MIT and Berkeley; now rare] To prettify hardcopy of code, especially
    LISP code, by reindenting lines, printing keywords and comments in distinct
    fonts (if available), etc. This usage was associated with the MacLISP
    community and is now rare; prettyprint was and is the generic term for
    such operations.

    2. [Unix] To generate the formatted version of a document from the troff,
    TeX, or Scribe source.

    3. [common] To run seemingly interminably, esp. (but not necessarily) if
    performing some tedious and inherently useless task. Similar to crunch or
    grovel. Grinding has a connotation of using a lot of CPU time, but it is
    possible to grind a disk, network, etc. See also hog.

    4. To make the whole system slow. ?Troff really grinds a PDP-11.?

    5. grind grind excl. Roughly, ?Isn't the machine slow today!?


The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

GRIND

   GRaphical INterpretive Display.

   A graphics input language for the PDP-9.

   ["GRIND: A Language and Translator for Computer Graphics",
   A.P. Conn, Dartmouth, June 1969].

   [Jargon File]

   (1995-01-31)


The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

grind

   1. (MIT and Berkeley) To prettify hardcopy of code, especially
   LISP code, by reindenting lines, printing keywords and
   comments in distinct fonts (if available), etc.  This usage
   was associated with the MacLISP community and is now rare;
   prettyprint was and is the generic term for such operations.

   2. (Unix) To generate the formatted version of a document from
   the nroff, troff, TeX, or Scribe source.

   3. To run seemingly interminably, especially (but not
   necessarily) if performing some tedious and inherently useless
   task.  Similar to crunch or grovel.  Grinding has a
   connotation of using a lot of CPU time, but it is possible to
   grind a disk, network, etc.

   See also hog.

   4. To make the whole system slow.  "Troff really grinds a
   PDP-11."

   5. "grind grind" excl. Roughly, "Isn't the machine slow
   today!"

   [Jargon File]

   (1994-12-16)


Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:

Grind
   (Ex. 32:20; Deut. 9:21; Judg. 16:21), to crush small (Heb.
   tahan); to oppress the poor (Isa. 3:5). The hand-mill was early
   used by the Hebrews (Num. 11:8). It consisted of two stones, the
   upper (Deut. 24:6; 2 Sam. 11:21) being movable and slightly
   concave, the lower being stationary. The grinders mentioned
   Eccl. 12:3 are the teeth. (See MILL.)