English Explanatory Dictionary

mill

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A grinding apparatus for substances such as grains, seeds, etc. (Some are small and simple, and some are large and complex.)
  2. The building housing such a grinding apparatus; also, any similar building that houses a similarly material activity (such as weaving, fulling, dying, etc.); the place of business comprising such a building and its outbuildings and grounds.
  3. A machine used for expelling the juice, sap, etc., from vegetable tissues by pressure, or by pressure in combination with a grinding, or cutting process; any similar apparatus that otherwise processes.
  4. A machine for grinding and polishing.
  5. A milling machine for machining of solid metal, wood, or plastic.
  6. A milling cutter used on such a machine.
  7. A manufacturing plant for paper, steel, textiles, flooring, and some other kinds of materials.
  8. The building complex housing such a plant; the place of business comprising such buildings and their grounds.
  9. An establishment that handles a certain type of situation or procedure routinely, or produces large quantities of an item without much regard to quality. (The notion of churning out massive amounts indiscriminately underlies the figurative metaphor.)
  10. An institution or pseudo-institutional business awarding credentials (such as diplomas, degrees, certificates, or certifications) of either dubious value or fraudulent nature; one selling essays or other documents for the buyers (usually students) to fraudulently pass off as their own.
  11. An engine.
  12. A boxing match or fistfight.
verb
  1. To grind or otherwise process in a mill or other machine.
  2. To shape, polish, dress or finish using a machine.
  3. To engrave one or more grooves or a pattern around the edge of (a cylindrical object such as a coin).
  4. To move about in an aimless fashion.
  5. To cause to mill, or circle around.
  6. To swim underwater.
  7. To swim suddenly in a new direction.
  8. To beat; to pound.
  9. To pass through a fulling mill; to full, as cloth.
  10. To roll (steel, etc.) into bars.
  11. To make (drinking chocolate) frothy, as by churning.
  12. To undergo hulling.
noun
  1. One thousandth part.
  2. One thousandth of a US dollar, or one tenth of a cent.
  3. One thousandth part in millage rates of property tax.
  4. Alternative form of mil (“one thousandth of an inch”).
  5. Clipping of millimeter.
noun
  1. Alternative form of mil (“million”).
noun
  1. A line of three matching pieces in nine men's morris and related games.
verb
  1. To move (a card) from a deck to the discard pile.
  2. To destroy (a card) due to having a full hand.
noun
  1. Discarding a card from one's deck.
  2. A strategy centered on depleting the opponent's deck.
name
  1. A surname.
  2. John Stuart Mill, English libertarian and utilitarian philosopher.
  3. A village in North Brabant, Netherlands.
  4. An unincorporated community in Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri, United States.

Pronunciation

mĭl /mɪl/ [mɪɫ] [mɪo̯] [mɪʊ̯] en-us-mill.ogg

Word forms

mill mills miln milling milled

Etymology

From Middle English mylne, mille, from Old English mylen, from Proto-West Germanic *mulīnu (“mill”), from Late Latin molīna, molīnum, molīnus (“mill”), from Latin molō (“grind, mill”, verb), closely allied to Proto-Germanic *muljaną (“to crush, grind”) (see English millstone). Perhaps cognate with Milne (a surname). Doublet of moline, moulin, and blin.

Synonyms

factory works country milling roam wander thou mm burn

Related words

% basis point bp percent mille mil Millean Millian Millianism Mills

Derived words

abortion mill accreditation mill ant mill author mill ball mill Barker's mill bark mill blowing mill born in a mill catmill cat mill Chilean mill chop mill chopping mill coffee-mill coffee mill cog mill content mill cornmill cotton mill cryomill dark satanic mill degree mill diploma mill edge mill Ellicott's Mills endmill essay mill every miller draws water to his own mill fanning mill feed mill flint mill flourmill flour mill food mill fulling mill gastric mill gig-mill gin mill gossip-mill gossip mill go through the mill grist for the mill grist mill gristmill grist to the mill hammermill handmill hollow post mill jar mill jill-mill kitten mill lapidary's mill lead mill light mill lumbermill Medicaid mill micromill Milford mill bar

Translations

Bulgarian: фа́брика Dutch: fabriek Dutch: papierfabriek Dutch: staalfabriek Dutch: textielfabriek Finnish: tehdas Finnish: tehdasrakennus French: manufacture German: Fabrik German: Werk German: Papiermühle Greek: εργοστάσιο Hebrew: טַחֲנָה Hungarian: gyár Hungarian: üzem Hungarian: telep Hungarian: -mű Latgalian: moltuve Latvian: maltuve Norwegian Bokmål: mølle Norwegian Bokmål: fabrikk Polish: fabryka Portuguese: fábrica Russian: фа́брика Russian: заво́д Scottish Gaelic: muileann Spanish: fábrica Turkish: bina Turkish: yapı Chinese Mandarin: 文 Bulgarian: хилядна Czech: promile Finnish: tuhannesosa
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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