Mill

Mill, mil, n. a machine for grinding any substance, as grain, by crushing it between two hard, rough surfaces: a place where corn is ground, or manufacture of some kind is carried on: a contest at boxing.—v.t. to grind: to press or stamp in a mill: to stamp or turn up the edge of coin, and put ridges and furrows on the rim: to put furrows and ridges on any edge: to clean, as cloth: to beat severely with the fists.—ns. Mill′-board, stout pasteboard, used esp. in binding books; Mill′cog, a cog of a mill-wheel; Mill′dam, Mill′pond, a dam or pond to hold water for driving a mill.—adj. Milled, prepared by a grinding-mill or a coining-press: transversely grooved: treated by machinery, esp. smoothed by calendering rollers in a paper-mill.—ns. Mill′-horse, a horse that turns a mill; Mill′ing, the act of passing anything through a mill: the act of fulling cloth: the process of turning up the edge of coin and of putting the rows of ridges and furrows on it: indenting coin on the edge; Mill′race, the current of water that turns a mill-wheel, or the channel in which it runs; Mill-six′pence (Shak.), a milled sixpence; Mill′stone, one of the two stones used in a mill for grinding corn; Mill′stone-grit (geol.), a hard gritty variety of sandstone suitable for millstones; Mill′-tooth, a molar; Mill′-wheel, the water-wheel used for driving a mill; Mill′-work, the machinery of a mill: the planning and putting up of machinery in mills; Mill′wright, a wright or mechanic who builds and repairs mills.—Go through the mill, to undergo suffering or experience sufficient to fit one for certain duties or privileges; See through a millstone, to see far into or through difficult questions. [A.S. miln—L. mola, a mill—molāre, to grind.]