millstone

[ mil-stohn ]

/ ˈmɪlˌstoʊn /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR millstone ON THESAURUS.COM

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).

Nearby words

mills cross, mills grenade, mills of the gods grind slowly, mills, c. wright, mills, robert, millstone, millstone around one's neck, millstream, millville, millwheel, millwork

Origin of millstone

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for millstone

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
Worse luck that that millstone still dangles gracefully from my neck!
The Letters of Henry James (volume I)|Henry James
A tame kid was gambolling behind them, and two women were grinding corn, with the millstone between them.
Doctor Luttrell's First Patient|Rosa Nouchette Carey

Just as if a couple of greenbacks could make a blind man see clean through a millstone!
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 85, November, 1864|Various
At this Philander chuckles, being able to see through a millstone with a hole in it.
Miss Caprice|St. George Rathborne
A porochial 'prentis, who is at present a dead-weight; a millstone, as I may say, round the porochial throat?
Oliver Twist, Illustrated|Charles Dickens

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

Word Origin and History for millstone

millstone

Old English mylenstan, from mill (n.1) + stone (n.). Figurative sense of "a burden" (1720) is from Matt. xviii:6.

millstone

noun

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of millstone

Examples from the Web for millstone

British Dictionary definitions for millstone

millstone

noun

Word Origin and History for millstone

millstone