millstone

[ mil-stohn ]

/ ˈmɪlˌstoʊn /

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noun

either of a pair of circular stones between which grain or another substance is ground, as in a mill.

anything that grinds or crushes.

any heavy mental or emotional burden (often used in the phrase a millstone around one's neck).

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Origin of millstone

before 1050; Middle English milneston,Old English mylenstān.See mill¹, stone

Words nearby millstone

Mills bomb, mill scale, Mills cross, Mills grenade, mills of the gods grind slowly, millstone, millstone around one's neck, millstream, Mill Valley, Millville, mill wheel

How to use millstone in a sentence

Unlike in the 1990s, the Taliban no longer have a millstone around their neck in the form of Osama bin Laden, the terrorist mastermind and wealthy Saudi financier who effectively bought his sanctuary in Afghanistan by bankrolling the group.
Butterfly Effect: Why Taliban 2.0 Is More Dangerous|Charu Kasturi|August 12, 2021|Ozy
But the challenge of Europe is to accept a connection to a millstone that has the financial world teetering.
Could Europe’s Economic Crisis Sink Us?|Zachary Karabell|September 13, 2011|DAILY BEAST
But all of this dubious wealth has become a millstone for the Swiss.
The End of Swiss Discretion|Eric Pape|October 1, 2009|DAILY BEAST
Take a millstone and grind meal: uncover thy shame, strip thy shoulder, make bare thy legs, pass over the rivers.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version|Various

In other respects—never having been appealed to by love—it was as hard as a small millstone.
The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands|R.M. Ballantyne
He owed them money, which at present he could not pay; his undischarged “debts of honour” hung like a millstone round his neck.
Julian Home|Dean Frederic W. Farrar
It was a thin slab, roughly circular in shape; not unlike what one might suppose a millstone to be in the rough.
The Devil-Tree of El Dorado|Frank Aubrey
I soon found he was a regular millstone round my neck—particularly when we were on the “walk-about.”
The Adventures of Louis de Rougemont|Louis de Rougemont

British Dictionary definitions for millstone

millstone

/ (ˈmɪlˌstəʊn) /

noun

one of a pair of heavy flat disc-shaped stones that are rotated one against the other to grind grain

a heavy burden, such as a responsibility or obligationhis debts were a millstone round his neck

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

millstone

Origin of millstone

Words nearby millstone

Words related to millstone

How to use millstone in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for millstone