quern
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of quern
before 950; Middle English; Old English cweorn; akin to Old Norse kvern hand-mill
Vocabulary lists containing quern
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.
"We have a quern stone for grinding flour for bread. We've got pottery and glass for eating and drinking" says Dr Andy Seaman.
From BBC ● Dec. 31, 2025
Finding a quern stone in an expected spot raises the hairs on the back of his neck—“as if I had been communicating directly with the people who buried it”.
From Economist ● Nov. 13, 2014
Mary, a woman of forty years or so, is grinding a quern.
From Poems by Yeats, W. B. (William Butler)
This was their rule, that every bishop19 should grind at the quern on his day.
From The Latin & Irish Lives of Ciaran Translations Of Christian Literature. Series V. Lives Of The Celtic Saints by MacAlister, R.A. Stewart
In some places to-day we still find the ancient quern or hand-mill, jocularly called an armstrong-machine.
From Our Southern Highlanders by Kephart, Horace
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.
