millstone
A large round stone used for grinding grainA large round stone used for grinding grain.
Recorded: Commander Keane, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
» Between the upper and nether millstone.
altusi · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
2 sensesA large round stone used for grinding grain.
Mühlstein
жёрновžórnov
жо́рноžórno
A coarse-grained sandstone used for making such stones; millstone grit.
- one of a pair of heavy flat disk-shaped stones that are rotated against one another to grind the grain
- any load that is difficult to carry
- (figurative) something that hinders or handicaps
Examples
6 sentencesBetween the upper and nether millstone.
The millstone turned with a creak.
The millstone's grooves wore down with use.
Slowly grind the millstones of the gods.
The heavy millstone ground grain.
Translations
9 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
From Middle English mylneston, milneston, from Old English mylenstān (“millstone”), from PFrom 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).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: millstonesSynonyms
1 synonyms- (figurative) something that hinders or handicaps:albatross
Word family
4 related wordsSee also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.