millstone

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A large round stone used for grinding grain.
  2. A coarse-grained sandstone used for making such stones; millstone grit.
  3. Ellipsis of millstone around one's neck, a heavy responsibility that is difficult to bear (referring to Matthew 18:6 in the Bible).
name
  1. A nuclear power station near Waterford, Connecticut, USA.
  2. An unincorporated community in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States.
  3. A township in Monmouth County, New Jersey.
  4. A borough in Somerset County, New Jersey.
  5. A tributary of the Raritan River in New Jersey; in full, the Millstone River.

Pronunciation

/ˈmɪlstəʊn/ /ˈmɪlˌstoʊn/ en-au-millstone.ogg

Word forms

millstone millstones mill-stone

Etymology

From Middle English mylneston, milneston, from Old English mylenstān (“millstone”), from Proto-West Germanic *mulīnu + *stain; equivalent to mill + stone; cognate with Danish møllesten, Middle Dutch molensteen (modern Dutch molensteen), West Frisian molestien, Norwegian Bokmål møllestein, Old Saxon mulinstēn (Middle Low German mȫlenstēn), Old High German mulinstein, mülstein (Middle High German mülstein, modern German Mühlstein).

Derived words

burr millstone hard as the nether millstone lava millstone into a millstone through a millstone
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