pestle
Americannoun
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pestles
plural
-
a tool for pounding or grinding substances in a mortar.
-
any of various appliances for pounding, stamping, etc.
verb (used with object)
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pestles,
present (3rd person singular)
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pestled,
past participle, past
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pestling
present participle
verb (used without object)
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pestles,
present (3rd person singular)
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pestled,
past participle, past
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pestling
present participle
noun
-
a club-shaped instrument for mixing or grinding substances in a mortar
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a tool for pounding or stamping
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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pestlesimple
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pestlessimple
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have pestledperfect
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has pestledperfect
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am pestlingprogressive
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are pestlingprogressive
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is pestlingprogressive
-
have been pestlingperfect progressive
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has been pestlingperfect progressive
Past
-
pestledsimple
-
had pestledperfect
-
was pestlingprogressive
-
were pestlingprogressive
-
had been pestlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pestle
1300–50; Middle English pestel < Middle French < Latin pistillum, derivative of pistus, past participle of pīnsere to pound, crush
Explanation
A pestle is a heavy, blunt tool used to grind things up, such as spices or herbs. If you're grinding spices, you put them in a container called a mortar and use the pestle to smash them up until they're finely ground. The mortar and pestle was originally used by pharmacists to grind substances for medical use. Because they are sold together as sets and are always used together, many people aren't sure which is the mortar and which is the pestle. The origin of pestle is the Latin word pistillum, which means "pounder." This can help you remember that the pestle is the pounder. Also, pistillum looks like pistol, which is also held in the hand.
Vocabulary lists containing pestle
Pestle, Sieve, and Whisk: Useful Words for Cooking Tools
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The Distance Between Us
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The Night Diary
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Traditionally, the beans are ground with a tool resembling a mortar and pestle but, for the sake of speed, Netsi now uses a small electric grinder.
From BBC ● May 31, 2026
A few had tooth structures that acted like a mortar and pestle and were able to grind in addition to just cutting.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 5, 2023
In a perfect pesto world, that frozen sauce is homemade — a mix of tiny-leafed Genovese basil, Italian pine nuts and good olive oil that you’ve pounded by hand with a mortar and pestle.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 30, 2023
The mortar and pestle of the fashion industry is here to grind your Pinterest board and your Etsy wish lists into the paste of “the next big thing.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2023
I know how to sort the lentils, grind the spices with his marble mortar and pestle, clarify the butter for ghee, and mix the dough for chapatis.
From "The Night Diary" by Veera Hiranandani
She devised a system that hulled and cleaned corn kernels, and then used mechanical pestles or stamping mechanisms to process the kernels into meal that could be used to bake bread and make other food.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
Many residents use stone mortars and pestles made by the stone carvers.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 21, 2023
The spice remains indicate that the stone mortars, pestles and grinding slabs found there were likely used for food preparation.
From Scientific American ● Jul. 21, 2023
Originally done simply with mortars and pestles, this task evolved along with the rise in agricultural production to include the use of larger stone tools.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
There wasn’t any job they hadn’t done during their long lives, it seemed, including working as healers, and their cottage was filled to the brim with potions and herbs, glass bottles and mortars and pestles.
From "Willodeen" by Katherine Applegate
It will be such a pestling device, sir Amorous; it will pound all your enemy's practices to powder, and blow him up with his own mine, his own train.
From Epicoene: Or, the Silent Woman by Ben Jonson
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.
