Jump To:

• mill
  mill

  noun

  a factory for certain kinds of manufacture, as paper, steel, or textiles.
• Mill
  Mill

  noun

  James, 1773–1836, English philosopher, historian, and economist, born in Scotland.
• mill.
  mill.

  abbreviation

  million.

mill

¹ American  

[mil] / mɪl /

noun

1. a factory for certain kinds of manufacture, as paper, steel, or textiles.

2. a building equipped with machinery for grinding grain into flour and other cereal products.

3. a machine for grinding, crushing, or pulverizing any solid substance.

   a coffee mill.

4. any of various machines that modify the shape or size of a workpiece by rotating tools or the work.

   rolling mill.

5. any of various other apparatuses for shaping materials or performing other mechanical operations.

6. a business or institution that dispenses products or services in an impersonal or mechanical manner, as if produced in a factory.

   a divorce mill; a diploma mill.

7. Machinery. a cutter on a milling machine.

8. a steel roller for receiving and transferring an impressed design, as to a calico-printing cylinder or a banknote-printing plate.

9. Mining. a place or set of machinery for crushing or concentrating ore.

10. Slang. a boxing match or fistfight.

---

verb (used with object)

• mills,
  present (3rd person singular)
• milled,
  past participle,  past
• milling
  present participle

1. to grind, work, treat, or shape in or with a mill.

2. Coining.

   1. to make a raised edge on (a coin or the like).

   2. to make narrow, radial grooves on the raised edge of (a coin or the like).

3. to beat or stir, as to a froth.

   to mill chocolate.

4. Slang. to beat or strike; fight; overcome.

verb (used without object)

• mills,
  present (3rd person singular)
• milled,
  past participle,  past
• milling
  present participle

1. to move around aimlessly, slowly, or confusedly, as a herd of cattle (often followed by about oraround ).

   Synonyms:

   wander, roam, throng, swarm, crowd

2. Slang. to fight or box.

idioms

1. through the mill, undergoing or having undergone severe difficulties, trials, etc., especially with an effect on one's health, personality, or character.

   He's really been through the mill since his wife's death.

mill ² American  

[mil] / mɪl /

noun

1. a unit of monetary value equal to 0.001 of a U.S. dollar; one tenth of a cent: used at various times and places in the U.S. as a money of account, especially in certain tax rates.

---

Mill ³ American  

[mil] / mɪl /

noun

1. James, 1773–1836, English philosopher, historian, and economist, born in Scotland.

2. his son John Stuart, 1806–73, English philosopher and economist.

---

mill. ⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. million.

---

mill ¹ British  

/ mɪl /

noun

1. a building in which grain is crushed and ground to make flour

2. a factory, esp one which processes raw materials

   a steel mill

3. any of various processing or manufacturing machines, esp one that grinds, presses, or rolls

4. any of various small hand mills used for grinding pepper, salt, or coffee for domestic purposes See also coffee mill pepper mill

5. a hard roller for impressing a design, esp in a textile-printing machine or in a machine for printing banknotes

6. a system, institution, etc, that influences people or things in the manner of a factory

   going through the educational mill

7. an unpleasant experience; ordeal (esp in the phrases go or be put through the mill )

8. a fist fight

9. ordinary or routine

---

verb

1. (tr) to grind, press, or pulverize in or as if in a mill

2. (tr) to process or produce in or with a mill

3. to cut or roll (metal) with or as if with a milling machine

4. (tr) to groove or flute the edge of (a coin)

5. (intr; often foll by about or around) to move about in a confused manner

6. rare (usually tr) to beat (chocolate, etc)

7. archaic to fight, esp with the fists

Mill ² British  

/ mɪl /

noun

1. James. 1773–1836, Scottish philosopher, historian, and economist. He expounded Bentham's utilitarian philosophy in Elements of Political Economy (1821) and Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human Mind (1829) and also wrote a History of British India (1817–18)

2. his son, John Stuart. 1806–73, English philosopher and economist. He modified Bentham's utilitarian philosophy in Utilitarianism (1861) and in his treatise On Liberty (1859) he defended the rights and freedom of the individual. Other works include A System of Logic (1843) and Principles of Political Economy (1848)

---

mill ³ British  

/ mɪl /

noun

1. a US and Canadian monetary unit used in calculations, esp for property taxes, equal to one thousandth of a dollar

---

mill More Idioms  

1. see grist for the mill; mills of the gods grind slowly; run of the mill; through the mill; tilt at windmills.

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• millable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• milling
  present
• milled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• mill
  simple
• mills
  simple
• have milled
  perfect
• has milled
  perfect
• am milling
  progressive
• are milling
  progressive
• is milling
  progressive
• have been milling
  perfect progressive
• has been milling
  perfect progressive

Past

• milled
  simple
• had milled
  perfect
• was milling
  progressive
• were milling
  progressive
• had been milling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will mill
  simple
• will have milled
  perfect
• will be milling
  progressive
• will have been milling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of mill¹

First recorded before 950; Middle English noun miln(e), mille(n) “building for grinding grain,” Old English myl(e)n “(water) mill,” from Late Latin molīna, noun use of feminine of molīnus “of a mill,” equivalent to Latin mol(a) “mill” + -īnus -ine ¹

Origin of mill²

An Americanism dating back to 1780–90; short for Latin millēsimus “thousandth”; see also mil ¹

Explanation

A mill is a factory or plant, especially one that's equipped for grinding grain into flour. The facility is a mill, and the machine that does the actual grinding is also called a mill. When a mill crushes and grinds grain like wheat or corn, you can say it mills flour. Other kinds of mills might mill powder or coffee — and still other mills don't actually grind anything; instead, they manufacture things like steel or paper. If someone "mills around," they wander or move about in a confused way: "The crowd mills around during the concert's intermission." This sense of mill was originally used to describe cattle.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mill Mill mill. mills milled milling

Wells Fargo upgraded Cleveland-Cliffs, saying near-term earnings could beat expectations even as a planned Iowa steel mill raises concerns about future supply.

From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026

Miller-Meeks made similar remarks, saying the mill would create 6,000 construction jobs and it would be “just transformational” for the area, which has been hit by offshoring.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026

President Trump will announce a plan by Minnesota-based Mesabi Metallics to build a $15 billion steel mill in Iowa.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

Another major fire has broken out at a derelict mill complex where Peaky Blinders was filmed.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

Looking back, Rowan could no longer see even the tall stone walls of the mill, the highest building, because the trees had screened it from view.

From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda

Wright, an American architect known for his innovative designs such as Fallingwater in Mill Run, PA, and the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan, designed homes that fit into their surroundings.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026

In Boones Mill, patrons still treat Taylor, who carries a small pistol in his back pocket, as a celebrity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026

The corn ground at the Old Mill is Tennessee-grown, never genetically modified, and no harsh chemicals or additives are added to the cornmeal and grits.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

Paramedics responded to a 911 call regarding a reported cardiac arrest at an apartment complex, Judson Mill Lofts west of downtown Greenville, at approximately 1:51 p.m.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026

I kept thinking I’d drive the Cadillac out toward Mill Town and see could I find Lightfoot McLendon and take her to ride, but I never got to.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns

"My boy is only 28, he's in the cold mill. And it is a worry about where they'll get jobs going forward."

From BBC ● Jan. 23, 2024

“Everybody’s run that thing through the mill. I’ll let other people talk about those issues. I want to talk about issues that matter to taxpayers and voters.”

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 18, 2021

“Thank you, steel mill. And thank you, chemical processing industry that gave us time to read books.”

From New York Times ● Feb. 9, 2017

“A big flour mill. It was a working-class neighborhood associated with that flour mill.”

From Washington Times ● Jan. 24, 2015

“My father said that my great-grandfather had a small mill there, a flour mill. He thought the stone you’re sitting on was part of it, it’s worn so smooth.”

From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien

Over 90% of Chinese steel mills are estimated to be unprofitable, with market conditions appearing worse than the steel-market downturns of 2008, 2015 and 2018, he says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Traditional millers say stone-ground products are healthier than ones from industrial roller mills.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

The Blackshear, Ga., logging firm buys standing timber from landowners, deploys logging crews and hauls the wood to mills.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

Even earlier, sugar mills would set aside around 10% of their output for this, helping stabilise prices in times of excess production.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

The Domesday Book records more than six thousand mills driven by water-wheels in England in 1086.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

With a flashlight, they milled around inside, then two of them used their arms to make a heart shape together in front of the view of the valley.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

If you take a loaf of bread as an example, first the grain is grown, harvested, milled and stored until it is ready to be taken to a factory.

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

A further 29.8 million tonnes of rice is expected to be added once paddy already procured from farmers is milled.

From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026

Hundreds of people milled around a popular market in La Paz, stocking up on food products that had only just arrived.

From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026

The Eolian was nearly full, and over a hundred people milled about on the ground floor alone.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

The vans belong to young Israeli squatters who play their own waiting game, smoking cigarettes and milling about.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026

Same-day zirconia crowns are already offered in some dental practices, but they are typically produced by milling rather than 3D printing.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026

Investigators also seized about 20,000 rounds of ammunition, including armor-piercing rounds, multiple firearm suppressors and about 15 firearm milling fixtures used to illegally manufacture and modify AR-15-style lower receivers, according to the statement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026

Shuttered storefronts lined Calle Real, the city's main commercial artery, where the usual flow of shoppers and residents had been replaced by scores of migrants milling around the streets.

From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026

In the distance was a bandstand where men in dark blue uniforms were milling about.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

Related Words

• foundry
• plant
• shop