a factory for certain kinds of manufacture, as paper, steel, or textiles.
a building equipped with machinery for grinding grain into flour and other cereal products.
a machine for grinding, crushing, or pulverizing any solid substance.
a coffee mill.
any of various machines that modify the shape or size of a workpiece by rotating tools or the work.
rolling mill.
any of various other apparatuses for shaping materials or performing other mechanical operations.
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.
Machinery. a cutter on a milling machine.
a steel roller for receiving and transferring an impressed design, as to a calico-printing cylinder or a banknote-printing plate.
Mining. a place or set of machinery for crushing or concentrating ore.
Slang. a boxing match or fistfight.
James, 1773–1836, English philosopher, historian, and economist, born in Scotland.
his son John Stuart, 1806–73, English philosopher and economist.
a building in which grain is crushed and ground to make flour
a factory, esp one which processes raw materials
a steel mill
any of various processing or manufacturing machines, esp one that grinds, presses, or rolls
any of various small hand mills used for grinding pepper, salt, or coffee for domestic purposes See also coffee mill pepper mill
a hard roller for impressing a design, esp in a textile-printing machine or in a machine for printing banknotes
a system, institution, etc, that influences people or things in the manner of a factory
going through the educational mill
an unpleasant experience; ordeal (esp in the phrases go or be put through the mill )
a fist fight
ordinary or routine
(tr) to grind, press, or pulverize in or as if in a mill
(tr) to process or produce in or with a mill
to cut or roll (metal) with or as if with a milling machine
(tr) to groove or flute the edge of (a coin)
(intr; often foll by about or around) to move about in a confused manner
rare (usually tr) to beat (chocolate, etc)
archaic to fight, esp with the fists
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)
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)
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
An Americanism dating back to 1780–90; short for Latin millēsimus “thousandth”; see also mil 1
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.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Rather than send wheat to Minneapolis to be processed, incurring high transportation costs, farmers and the state banded together to form the North Dakota Mill, the only state-owned mill in the United States.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026
The system was designed to identify subtle textual "fingerprints" that repeatedly appear in known paper mill products.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026
There’s also a mill — a 40,000-square foot workshop space — a cafe, plenty of parking and quick access to area freeways.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
Analyst Paul Kaner says the trip highlighted progress on the expansion projects, including at the processing mill.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
On the rare occasions that they ventured out of their neighborhoods, mill hands were immediately recognizable by their deathly white pallor.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
Rather than send wheat to Minneapolis to be processed, incurring high transportation costs, farmers and the state banded together to form the North Dakota Mill, the only state-owned mill in the United States.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026
The two-seat Cessna plane came down off Mill Lane in High Ongar, Essex, at about 12:30 BST on Tuesday.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
In addition to Wollstonecraft and Mill, there are references to the artist Barbara Bodichon and the poet Bessie Rayner Parkes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
At the start of the book, Alice is reading “Emma” by Jane Austen, but soon she will find herself absorbed in the work of Mary Wollstonecraft and John Stuart Mill.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
We stopped at a red light on Old Mill Boulevard, at an intersection across from Flat Face Pizza.
From "100 Sideways Miles" by Andrew Smith
"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
“Where that bank sits now used to be an auto and truck repair and the saw mill. There was a great, big garage. That was a town hang out,” Munsell said.
From Washington Times ● May 10, 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
“Hurry! He went around the mill. Head him off. He mustn’t escape.”
From "Crispin: The Cross of Lead" by Avi
"Production and supply have deteriorated to the point where it is going to be difficult for the mills to stay open," he said, speaking anonymously because he feared retaliation.
From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026
A new machine learning system has flagged more than 250,000 cancer research papers that may be connected to so called "paper mills."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026
Its area, which covers 13 states from the Midwest to the mid-Atlantic region, is also home to the country’s largest concentration of steel mills with electric furnaces.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
The monuments are of all types, including prehistoric burial mounds, Roman forts, early Christian carved stones and industrial mills.
From BBC ● May 13, 2026
By the end of the month, half the steel industry, including almost all the mills in Chicago, Illinois; Cleveland, Ohio; Johnstown, Pennsylvania; Wheeling, West Virginia; Lackawanna, New York; and Youngstown, Ohio, had shut down.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
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
What distinguished Didion is her style, so carefully milled as to be not noticed at first.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026
Dozens of police and security guards milled about as parents stood beside the line of students waiting to enter the exam hall, hoping to film their children walking inside.
From Barron's ● Jun. 7, 2026
Customers receive a card explaining the provenance of their “health-enabling” undies, including the locations where the fiber is grown, milled into fabric, dyed and sewn.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
A pack of white timber wolves milled around their feet, and many of the girls had hunting falcons on their arms.
From "The Last Olympian" by Rick Riordan
Shortly after opening time on a recent morning, the Kettering store already had a number of middle-aged customers milling about the space leafing through magazines—yes, it has those—or asking for advice.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
In a damp back alley, Jingjing joined job-seekers milling about leisurely, haggling for higher wages while garment bosses perched on scooters brandished hiring signs, desperate for day labourers.
From Barron's ● May 6, 2026
Sean Murtha, a Los Angeles Police Department officer, testified he responded to a 911 call and found people milling around an F-150 in the middle of Fountain Avenue, “crying, yelling hysterically.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2026
It was built by the community after the King "charged too much for milling" at Marford Mill, "he had a monopoly on grinding corn," said Brendan.
From BBC ● Jan. 24, 2026
We ran off, dodging the chickens milling around in the yard, tuck-tuck-tucking a food call to each other.
From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
