Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A revolving stone disk used for grinding, polishing, or sharpening tools.
- n. A millstone.
- idiom. keep (one's) nose to the grindstone To work hard and steadily.
- idiom. put (one's) nose to the grindstone To work in earnest.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. 1. A stone used in grinding corn; a millstone.
- n. A mill for grinding corn.
- n. A solid wheel of stone mounted on a spindle and turned by a winch-handle, by a treadle, or by machinery, used for grinding, sharpening, or polishing. The stone generally used for this purpose is a fine kind of sandstone found in England, Germany, Nova Scotia, and Arkansas, and at Berea in Ohio. Artificial grindstones are made of sand, corundum, emery, or some other abradant, and a cement.
Wiktionary
- n. An abrasive wheel for sharpening, polishing or grinding.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A flat, circular stone, revolving on an axle, for grinding or sharpening tools, or shaping or smoothing objects.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a revolving stone shaped like a disk; used to grind or sharpen or polish edge tools
Examples
“ChangeWave keeps its nose to a shorter-term grindstone -- he called the category's ability to grow in the face of a serious economic downturn "astounding.”
“While Carton declined to comment on smartphones 'long-range prospects -- ChangeWave keeps its nose to a shorter-term grindstone -- he called the category's ability to grow in the face of a serious economic downturn "astounding.”
“The grindstone was the kind that operated with a pedal, but the pedal had a tendency to stick.”
“Juventus director Alessio Secco has told the squad that putting their noses to the grindstone will be a quick fix solution to their problems.”
“I think it's a little pompous on your part to judge whether or not strangers at Starbuck's are using Macs to be productive, and your suggestion that all the PC users in Starbucks constantly have their noses to the grindstone is a little laughable.”
“This is nothing more than a brainwashing movement supported and funded by corporate titans and bankers to keep employees happily working at the "grindstone" while filling the coffers of the elite.”
The Negative Influence of Positive Thinking- The Gurus, Coaches, and Consultants
“We have seen how in those primitive days the earth was spinning around very rapidly; and I have also stated that the earth might at this very critical epoch of its history be compared with a grindstone which is being driven so rapidly that it is on the very brink of rupture.”
“Then if someone invented a new kind of grindstone to grind tools and blades in a quarter of the time, what would they do?”
“Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Snyder will start airing his "grindstone" campaign ad Wednesday after voters selected the spot in an unusual online contest.”
“But it would also mean leaving poor Tommy at the grindstone, which is hard. ”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘grindstone’.
-
SCIE - EU nomenclature
All the scientific words found in the official EU nomenclature. For the screening I used Vocabgrabber of the Visual Thesaurus.
silicon, silica, shrimp, shelve, shallot, serine, seedling, septic, secretin, seaweed, screening, Scomber and 1171 more...
-
IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
abaca, abdominal, abrasive, absorbent, absorber, accelerator, accessory, account book, accumulator, acebutolol, acetaldehyde, acetamide and 4515 more...
-
big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
-
A Provincial Glossary, 1787
A list of provincial English words that appear in Francis Grose's A Provincial Glossary, with a Collection of Local Proverbs and Popular Superstitions. London, MDCCLXXXVII. Printed for S. Hooper, N...
tharky, velling, cadma, whinnock, caingel, giglet, gill-houter, leasing, leech-way, dellfin, underwood, dilvered and 193 more...
-
Some new Wordie words this week
Don't tell them they are not real--they might cry.
glover, breakfront, submaximal, criticality, lanoline, mouthy, botheration, metaphorically, metaphase, disavowal, arum, ostentatiously and 162 more...
-
2011 August
cajolery, vexing, irk, grindstone, millstone, candid, subterfuge, culprit, arraigned, faltering, modicum, surmise and 58 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for grindstone.
hernesheir A Scottish man and a Newcastle grindstone travel all the world over. -- An old saying from Northumberland recorded by Grose in his 1787 A Provincial Glossary.
"A commendable spirit of enterprise and industry industry induces the natives of Scotland to seek their fortunes in all climates and kingdoms under the sun, and Newcastle grindstones, being the best of their kind, are therefore known and carried every where, far and near". May 3, 2011