mill

• enPR: mĭl, IPA^(key): /mɪl/
  • (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): [mɪɫ]
  • (l-vocalizing: UK, General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): [mɪo̯], [mɪʊ̯]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪl
• Homophone: mil

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.

mill (plural mills)

1. A grinding apparatus for substances such as grains, seeds, etc. (Some are small and simple, and some are large and complex.)

   Hyponym: pepper mill

   Pepper has a stronger flavor when it is ground straight from a mill.

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.

   Hyponyms: flour mill, grist mill; fulling mill, cotton mill; water mill, windmill

   My great-grandfather worked in a mill. He filled the flour sacks and then carried and loaded them.

   • 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, chapter XV, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk), page 112:

     […] for the Townsfolk will go to thy mill, and grind their corn […] at their own good pleasure; nor can I hinder them, since they are free men.

   • 1880 January 1, The Locomotive, volume 1, number 1, Hartford, Conn.: The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection And Insurance Company, page 9:

     On Sept. 9 a boiler exploded in Hanke's flouring mill, […]

   • 1965, Samuel C. Chu, Reformer in Mondern China Chang Chien, 1853-1926‎^[2], Columbia University Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 31:

     Under the reorganization the branch mill was designated as Dah Sun Mill No. 2. In subsequent years Chang Chien had ambitious plans for further expansion. Eventually four Dah Sun mills were established, two in Nan-t'ung and one each in Ch'ung-ming and Hai-men, although plans for the founding of mills in Ju-kao, Tung-t'ai, Yen-ch'eng, and elsewhere in Kiangsu were never realized.

   • 2026, Sandi Rosner, “Knudsen Knits: Sourcing & Milling Local Heritage-Breed Wool”, in Spin Off, volume L, number 1, page 39:

     That first batch of yarn set the pattern for Knudsen Knits: Farah seeks out local wool growers, selects fleeces, and works with small local mills to produce yarn.

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.

   a cider mill; a cane mill

4. A machine for grinding and polishing.

   a lapidary mill

6. A milling machine for machining of solid metal, wood, or plastic.

   Hypernyms: machine tool < machine

   Several machinists were busy operating the lathes, mills, and drill presses on the shop floor.

8. A milling cutter used on such a machine.

   Hyponyms: endmill; more at Wikipedia

   After the drilling and tapping operations, we come in with a mill and do some contouring.

9. A manufacturing plant for paper, steel, textiles, flooring, and some other kinds of materials.

   Hyponyms: paper mill, steel mill

   Once the billet gets through the 56-inch mill, it is ready for reheating.

10. The building complex housing such a plant; the place of business comprising such buildings and their grounds.

    My grandfather worked in a mill. He operated machinery, did maintenance, and drove forklifts.

11. (figurative, usually derogatory) 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.)

    Hyponyms: divorce mill, puppy mill, content mill

    Those shysters selling the purebreds are running quite a mill over there, eh?

12. (figurative, derogatory) 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.

    Hyponyms: diploma mill, accreditation mill, ordination mill; essay mill, paper mill

    Those shysters cranking out the "IT training certificates" are running quite a mill over there, eh?

13. (informal) An engine.

    Under the hood is a mill that you and I can't afford — a nitrous-blown hemi with custom heads.

14. (informal, archaic) A boxing match or fistfight.

    They were betting big on a great mill, but they didn't realize that the fix was in.

    • 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:

      […] he is relieved from present responsibility to the Chicken, by the absence of that game head of poultry in the country, training (at Toots's cost) for his great mill with the Larkey Boy.

    • 1902 October 1, The Sydney Sportsman, page 5, column 6:

      The mill lasted four rounds, when giddy little Ettie was declared the victress.

    • 1914 October – 1916 July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Mucker, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published 31 October 1921, →OCLC:

      The name of the "white hope" against whom Billy was to go was sufficient to draw a fair house, and there were some there who had seen Billy in other fights and looked for a good mill.

15. (die sinking) A hardened steel roller with a design in relief, used for imprinting a reversed copy of the design in a softer metal, such as copper.

    Coordinate term: die

16. (mining) An excavation in rock, transverse to the workings, from which material for filling is obtained.

    They pulled me off the main crew and had me digging in the mill.

17. (mining) A passage underground through which ore is shot.

    Near-synonym: country

    The geologists were responsible for keeping the work within the mill.

18. The raised or ridged edge or surface made in milling anything, such as a coin or screw.

    Synonym: milling

19. (historical) A prison treadmill.

    They kept us in line by threatening to put us on the mill twice as long if we complained.

    • 1837, James Williams, A Narrative of Events Since the First of August, 1834, page 9:

      Next morning they put me on the treadmill along with the others: At first, not knowing how to dance it, I cut all my shin with the steps; they did not flog me then — […] They keep on putting her on the mill for a week, and flog her every time […]

20. (US military slang, World War I, World War II) A military prison, either guardhouse or post prison.^[1]

    He spent some time in the mill after that escapade.

21. (military slang, World War I, World War II) A delousing station: a cootie mill.^[1]
22. (CB radio slang) A typewriter used to transcribe messages received.
    • 1941, QST, volume 25, numbers 2–6, page 90:

      In other words, get a mill in your operating position by hook or crook and use it regularly. At the N.C.R. Radio Schools touch typing is taught at the same time code proficiency is advanced.

    • 1986, Ham Radio Magazine, volume 19, page 66:

      You can read it all right, but the pencil seems to be getting a little sluggish — better make a grab for a "mill."

• miln (obsolete)

• (plant, building): factory, works

• Sranan Tongo: miri
• → Hindi: मिल (mil)

mill (third-person singular simple present mills, present participle milling, simple past and past participle milled)

2. (transitive) To grind or otherwise process in a mill or other machine.

   to mill flour

3. (transitive) To shape, polish, dress or finish using a machine.
4. (transitive) To engrave one or more grooves or a pattern around the edge of (a cylindrical object such as a coin).
5. (intransitive, followed by around, about, etc.) To move about in an aimless fashion.

   I didn't have much to do, so I just milled around the town looking at the shops.

   • 1895 November, Rudyard Kipling, The Second Jungle Book, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC:

     The deer and the pig and the nilghai were milling round and round in a circle of eight or ten miles radius, while the Eaters of Flesh skirmished round its edge.

   • 2021 July 8, Sheera Frenkel, Cecilia Kang, “Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg’s Partnership Did Not Survive Trump”, in The New York Times‎^[3], →ISSN:

     As guests milled around them, he [Zuckerberg] described his goal of turning every person in the country with an internet connection into a Facebook user.

6. (transitive) To cause to mill, or circle around.

   to mill cattle

7. (zoology, of air-breathing creatures) To swim underwater.
8. (zoology, of a whale) To swim suddenly in a new direction.
9. (transitive, slang) To beat; to pound.
   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, The Madness of Private Ortheris:

     Ortheris said nothing for a while. Then he unslung his belt, heavy with the badges of half a dozen regiments that his own had lain with, and handed it over to Mulvaney.
     "I'm too little for to mill you, Mulvaney," said he, "an' you've strook me before; but you can take an' cut me in two with this 'ere if you like."

   • 1861 January – 1862 August, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, The Adventures of Philip on His Way through the World; […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1862, →OCLC:

     […] he had “milled” a policeman

10. To pass through a fulling mill; to full, as cloth.
11. (transitive) To roll (steel, etc.) into bars.
12. (transitive) To make (drinking chocolate) frothy, as by churning.
13. (intransitive) To undergo hulling.

    This maize mills well.

14. (intransitive, slang) To take part in a fistfight; to box.
15. (transitive, mining) To fill (a winze or interior incline) with broken ore, to be drawn out at the bottom.
16. (obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) To commit burglary.
    • 1611, Thomas Middleton, “The Roaring Girl”, in Arthur Henry Bullen, editor, The Works of Thomas Middleton‎^[4], volume 4, published 1885, act 5, scene 1, pages 128–129:

      Ben mort, shall you and I heave a bough, mill a ken, or nip a bung, and then we'll couch a hogshead under the ruffmans, and there you shall wap with me, and I'll niggle with you.

    • 1818, Walter Scott, chapter 6, in The Heart of Midlothian:

      And why not?—You would think little of peaching and hanging him for this Scotch affair.—Rat me, one might have milled the Bank of England, and less noise about it.

• (move about in an aimless fashion): roam, wander

Ultimately from Latin millesimum. The clipping comes by way of the clipped word, millimetre.

mill (plural mills)

2. One thousandth part.
   2. One thousandth of a US dollar, or one tenth of a cent.

      Alternative form: mille

      Holonyms: cent < dollar

      The U.S. has never minted a mill coin, but the Coinage Act of 1792 describes this and other subdivisions of the U.S. dollar.

   4. One thousandth part in millage rates of property tax.

      They predict that the rate will probably go up by several mills next year.

   6. (engineering, manufacturing) Alternative form of mil (“one thousandth of an inch”).

      Synonym: thou

      For this task, I prefer the plastic sheeting that is 10 mills thick.

   8. (informal) Clipping of millimeter.

      Alternative form: mil

      Synonym: mm

      For this task, I prefer the plastic bars that are 10 mills in diameter.

Clipping of million.

mill (plural mill)

2. (informal) Alternative form of mil (“million”).

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

mill (plural mills)

1. A line of three matching pieces in nine men's morris and related games.

Back-formation from millstone, name of a Magic: The Gathering card with this effect (first printed 1994).

• Mill (in the sense of "a strategy")

mill (third-person singular simple present mills, present participle milling, simple past and past participle milled)

1. (transitive, collectible card games) To move (a card) from a deck to the discard pile.
2. (transitive, Hearthstone) To destroy (a card) due to having a full hand.
   • 2018 October 9, Ozzie Mejia, “Hearthstone: 4 decks to watch during the 2018 HCT Fall Championship”, in Shacknews‎^[5]:

     what happens when a Quest Rogue uses Vanish and Malygos gets milled?

• (Hearthstone): burn

• self-mill

mill (countable and uncountable, plural mills)

1. (collectible card games) Discarding a card from one's deck.
   • 2018 October 14, Jay Castello, “Pro Hearthstone player burns key card with perfect comedic timing”, in Rock Paper Shotgun‎^[6]:

     he’s had some fairly infamous mills in other events. Back in 2017’s Spring Championships, he burned the crucial Archmage Antonidas

2. (collectible card games) A strategy centered on depleting the opponent's deck.
   • 2018 June 16, Wavelength, “Efficient Off-Meta Decks Spotlight”, in Fade2Karma‎^[7], archived from the original on 28 November 2021:

     Kingsane ^{[sic – meaning Kingsbane]} Rogue will forever have a negative connotation attached to it because it began as a mill deck, and mill is one of the most tilt-inducing strategies in fantasy card games.

   • 2018 September 24, Collin MacGregor, “Top 10 Guilds of Ravnica Commander Cards in Magic The Gathering”, in heavy.‎^[8]:

     Great for mill, control, or even Voltron decks, Mnemonic Betrayal is a fantastic addition regardless of your strategy.

• Mill Rogue

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “mill”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “mill”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• mill on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Mill in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Possibly from Proto-Albanian *meila (“fastening (of a knife)”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to attach, fasten”).^[1]

mill m (plural mille, definite milli, definite plural millet)

1. sheath

Inherited from Latin milium.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈmiʎ]
• Rhymes: -iʎ

mill m (plural mills)

1. millet

• mill africà
• mill del sol

• “mill”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “mill”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “mill” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “mill”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

• IPA^(key): /mʲiːl̠ʲ/, /mʲil̠ʲ/

From Old Irish millid (“to spoil, ruin, destroy”).^[1]

mill (present analytic milleann, future analytic millfidh, verbal noun milleadh, past participle millte)

1. (ambitransitive) to spoil; mar, ruin
2. to ravish

• milleán

mill f (genitive singular mille, nominative plural milleanna)

1. alternative form of meill (“flabby skin”)
2. (botany) pendant bud or flower

• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1927), “millim”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla [Irish and English Dictionary], 2nd edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 743; reprinted with additions 1996, →ISBN
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “mill”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla [Irish–English Dictionary], Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959), “mill”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “mill”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2026

• IPA^(key): /milʲ/

From Old Irish millid (“spoils, ruins, destroys”). Cognate with Irish mill and Scottish Gaelic mill.

mill (past independent vill, future independent millee, verbal noun milley, past participle millit)

1. destroy, ruin
2. spoil, tarnish
3. (as vision) blur
4. disfigure
5. corrupt
6. mess, tumble, rustle

   Ny mill m'olt. ― Don't tumble my hair.

From Old Irish mil, from Proto-Celtic *meli, from Proto-Indo-European *mélid. Cognate with Irish mil, Scottish Gaelic mil, Latin mel, Ancient Greek μέλι (méli). Akin to millish and blass.

mill f (genitive singular molley)

1. honey

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “mil”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

• IPA^(key): /miːʎ/

From Old Irish millid (“spoils, ruins, destroys”).

mill (past mhill, future millidh, verbal noun milleadh, past participle millte)

1. destroy, spoil, ruin

mill m

1. inflection of meall:
   1. genitive singular
   2. plural

• Edward Dwelly (1911), “mill”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “millid”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

• mil

mill

1. (anatomy) eye

mill

1. alternative form of mil

• State Library of Queensland, Indigenous Language Wordlists Turubul Body Parts.