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Showing results for quern. Search instead for querns.

quern

American  
[kwurn] / kwɜrn /

noun

  1. a primitive, hand-operated mill for grinding grain.


quern British  
/ kwɜːn /

noun

  1. a stone hand mill for grinding corn

"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

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.

See Examples For:

"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

Mysingr took with him the quern, Grotti, with Fenia and Menia, and ordered them to grind salt.

From Folk-Lore and Legends; Scandinavian by Various

In the Boulting-house One brass pan, one quern, a boulting hutch, a boulting tub, three little tubbys, two keelers, a tolvett, two boulters, one tonnell.

From The Reign of Henry the Eighth, Volume 1 (of 3) by James Anthony Froude

But angels used to grind at the quern for Ciaran's sake on the day that was his.

From The Latin & Irish Lives of Ciaran Translations Of Christian Literature. Series V. Lives Of The Celtic Saints by R.A. Stewart MacAlister

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