mill

1 of 4

noun (1)

ˈmil 

1

: a building provided with machinery for processing and especially for grinding grain into flour

2

a

: a machine or apparatus for grinding grain

b

: a device or machine for reducing something (as by crushing or grinding) to small pieces or particles

a pepper mill

c

: a machine for hulling grain kernels (as of rice, oats, or spelt)

3

: a building or collection of buildings with machinery for manufacturing

a paper mill

steel mills

4

: a machine that manufactures by the continuous repetition of some simple action

5

a

: a machine formerly used for stamping coins

b

: a machine for expelling juice from vegetable tissues by pressure or grinding

a cider mill

6

: milling machine, milling cutter

7

a

: a slow, laborious, or mechanical process or routine

Pacquiao has filed about a dozen bills as congressman but none has passed any of the committees they have been referred to, the first hurdle in the legislative mill.

—Oliver Teves

b

: one that produces or processes people or things mechanically or in large numbers

a diploma mill

a rumor mill

8

: a difficult and often educational experience

—used in the phrase through the mill

9

: the engine of an automobile or boat

mill

2 of 4

verb

milled; milling; mills

transitive verb

1

: to subject to an operation or process in a mill: such as

a

: to grind into flour, meal, or powder

milling wheat

b

: to remove the outer layers of (seed kernels) : to subject to hulling

milling rice to remove the husk and bran layers

c

: to shape or dress by means of a rotary cutter

d

: to mix and condition (something, such as rubber) by passing between rotating rolls

2

: to give a raised rim or a ridged or corrugated edge to (a coin)

3

: to cut grooves in the metal surface of (something, such as a knob)

intransitive verb

1

a

: to move about in a disorderly or aimless fashion

a crowd milling about outside the theater exit

b

of cattle : to move about in a circling mass

2

: to hit out with the fists

3

: to undergo milling

seed too wet to mill properly

mill

3 of 4

noun (2)

variant spelling of mil entry 2

slang

: a million dollars

mill

4 of 4

noun (3)

: a money of account equal to ¹/₁₀ cent

Synonyms

Noun (1)

• factory
• manufactory
• plant
• shop
• works
• workshop

Verb

• atomize
• beat
• bray
• comminute
• crush
• disintegrate
• grind
• mull
• pound
• powder
• pulverize

Examples of mill in a Sentence

Noun (1)

a steel mill that remains the town's principal employer

Verb

The crowd was milling outside the exit.

a demonstration of how dried kernels of corn were milled in colonial times

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Tea is always served promptly at four o’clock in the afternoon, and regular guests begin to mill about around 3:45, waiting to snatch their favorite pastry before someone else does. —Mary Shannon Wells, Southern Living, 16 Dec. 2024

Paradise flycatchers fervently follow kudu and bushbuck, feeding on mosquitoes and other flying insects that mill around the antelope. —Scott Travers, Forbes, 10 Dec. 2024

Noun

In the late 19th century, the congregation worshipped in an old mill located at the northeast corner of Preston and Broadway, and then later at Wingfield’s Blacksmith Shop at Ninth Street and Broadway. —Maggie Menderski, The Courier-Journal, 4 Dec. 2024

Its cedar mills, the railroad, and the whisk broom industry were all destroyed by hurricanes. —Denise Hruby, Sun Sentinel, 2 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English mille, from Old English mylen, from Late Latin molina, molinum, from feminine and neuter of molinus of a mill, of a millstone, from Latin mola mill, millstone; akin to Latin molere to grind — more at meal

Noun (3)

Latin mille thousand

First Known Use

Noun (1)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1511, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Noun (3)

1786, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing mill

• ball mill
• coffee mill
• diploma mill
• gin mill
• grist for one's/the mill
• grist to one's/the mill
• hammer mill
• mill wheel
• pepper mill
• per mill
• pug mill
• puppy mill
• rolling mill
• run-of-the-mill
• stamp mill
• the rumor mill
• through the mill
• water mill

Kids Definition

mill

1 of 3 noun

ˈmil 

1

: a building with machinery for grinding grain into flour

2

: a machine used in treating (as by grinding, crushing, stamping, cutting, or finishing) raw material

3

: factory

mill

2 of 3 verb

1

: to process in a mill (as by grinding into flour, meal, or powder or by shaping with a cutter)

2

: to give a raised rim or a grooved edge to

mill a coin

3

: to move about in a disorderly mass

people were milling about the entrance to the theater

mill

3 of 3 noun

: one tenth of a cent

Etymology

Noun

Old English mylen "mill" from Latin molina (same meaning), derived from earlier mola "mill, millstone" — related to molar see Word History at molar

Noun

from Latin mille "thousand"; so called because it is one one-thousandth of a dollar

Biographical Definition

Mill 1 of 2

biographical name (1)

ˈmil 

James 1773–1836 Scottish philosopher, historian, and economist

Mill

2 of 2

biographical name (2)

John Stuart 1806–1873 son of James Mill English philosopher and economist