mill

pronunciation

How to pronounce mill in British English: UK [mɪl] word uk audio image

How to pronounce mill in American English: US [mɪl] word us audio image

Noun:

a plant consisting of buildings with facilities for manufacturing
machine that processes materials by grinding or crushing
the act of grinding to a powder or dust
Verb:

move about in a confused manner
grind with a mill
produce a ridge around the edge of
roll out (metal) with a rolling machine

Word Origin

mill: mill: [OE] Mill is one of a large family of English words that go back ultimately to the Indo- European base *mel-, *mol-, *ml-, denoting ‘grind’. It includes meal ‘flour’, mollify, mollusc, mould ‘earth’, and (via the extended form *meld-, *mold-) melt and mild. One particular subset of the family comes from closely related Latin sources: the verb molere ‘grind’ has produced emolument and ormolu [18] (etymologically ‘ground gold’); the noun mola ‘grindstone’ has given molar [16] and (via a later sense ‘flour mixed with salt, sprinkled on sacrificial victims’) immolate [16]; and late Latin molīnus ‘grindstone’, which replaced classical Latin mola, was borrowed into Old English as mylen, from which we get modern English mill.=> emolument, meal, melt, mild, molar, mollify, mollusc, mould, ormolu

mill (n.1): "building fitted to grind grain," Old English mylen "a mill" (10c.), an early Germanic borrowing from Late Latin molina, molinum "mill" (source of French moulin, Spanish molino), originally fem. and neuter of molinus "pertaining to a mill," from Latin mola "mill, millstone," related to molere "to grind," from PIE *mel- (1) "soft," with derivatives referring to ground material and tools for grinding (source also of Greek myle "mill;" see mallet). Also from Late Latin molina, directly or indirectly, are German Mühle, Old Saxon mulin, Old Norse mylna, Danish mølle, Old Church Slavonic mulinu. Broader sense of "grinding machine" is attested from 1550s. Other types of manufacturing machines driven by wind or water, whether for grinding or not, began to be called mills by early 15c. Sense of "building fitted with industrial machinery" is from c. 1500.

mill (n.2): "one-tenth cent," 1786, an original U.S. currency unit but now used only for tax calculation purposes, shortening of Latin millesimum "one-thousandth," from mille "a thousand" (see million). Formed on the analogy of cent, which is short for Latin centesimus "one hundredth" (of a dollar).

mill (v.2): "to keep moving round and round in a mass," 1874 (implied in milling), originally of cattle, from mill (n.1) on resemblance to the action of a mill wheel. Related: Milled.

4. That is not much comfort to leann lucas and her friends laid off at the paper mill .

5. Another portion of the mill is being leased to a tissue manufacturer that plans to hire 85 workers .