What is "grand mean"

n. The mean (gloss: average) of all numbers observed, rather than that of a subsample.

The grand mean is the mean of the means of several subsamples, as long as the subsamples have the same number of data points. For example, consider several lots, each containing several items. The items from each lot are sampled for a measure of some variable and the means of the measurements from each lot are computed. The mean of the measures from each lot constitutes the subsample mean. The mean of these subsample means is then the grand mean.