noun
mill
mih
noun
1
A machine, or the building housing it, used to grind grain into flour.
"The old watermill still grinds wheat for the village bakery."
2
A factory that processes a raw material, such as paper, steel, or cloth.
"Her grandfather worked at the steel mill for forty years."
3
An institution or business that churns out large quantities of something with little regard for quality, often used dismissively.
"That university has been called a degree mill."
verb
1
To grind, cut, or shape material using a mill or milling machine.
"The workshop mills the metal parts to exact measurements."
2
Of a crowd, to move around aimlessly or in a disorganised way (usually as "mill about/around").
"Fans milled about outside the stadium before the gates opened."
How to Use Mill
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA machine or factory that grinds or processes raw material, or, as a verb, to grind material — or for a crowd, to wander about without direction.
Common pairings
flour mill
steel mill
mill about
run through the mill
Word Forms
milled past tense, milled past tense, mills plural, mills plural, mills plural, mills singular, mills singular
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Etymology
From Old English mylen, borrowed from Late Latin molīnum, "mill," itself from Latin molō, "I grind."