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mill1

Pronunciation: /mɪl/

Translate mill | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of mill

noun

  • 1a building equipped with machinery for grinding grain into flour.
  • a piece of machinery for grinding grain: a direct steam-driven flour mill
  • a domestic device for grinding a solid substance to powder:a pepper mill
  • 2a factory fitted with machinery for a particular manufacturing process:a steel mill
  • a piece of manufacturing machinery.
  • 3 informal an engine.
  • 4 informal, dated a boxing match or a fist fight.

verb

[with object]
  • 1grind (something) in a mill:hard wheats are easily milled into white flour (as adjective, with submodifier milled)freshly milled black pepper
  • 2cut or shape (metal) with a rotating tool: in the machine shop we mill and grind the castings (as noun milling)a milling machine
  • (usually as adjective milled) produce regular ribbed markings on the edge of (a coin) as a protection against illegal clipping: a selection of hammered and milled coins
  • 3 [no object] (mill about/around) (of people or animals) move around in a confused mass:tourists were milling about in the lobby (as adjective milling)the milling crowds of guests
  • 4thicken (wool or another animal fibre) by fulling it: ordinary wool blankets are made by milling a woven wool fabric

Phrases

go (or put someone) through the mill

undergo (or cause someone to undergo) an unpleasant experience: we have been through the mill, but it has been worth the fight

Derivatives

millable

adjective

Origin:

Old English mylen, based on late Latin molinum, from Latin mola 'grindstone, mill', from molere 'to grind'

mill in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of mill in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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