graft

name

1. A surname.

noun

Etymology: 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.

1. Corruption in official life.
2. Illicit profit by corrupt means, especially in public life.
3. A criminal’s special branch of practice.
4. A con job.
5. A cut of the take (money).
6. 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[…]?”

7. 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.”

8. A job or trade.

verb

Etymology: 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.

1. To work hard.
2. To obtain illegal gain from bribery or similar corrupt practices.