pestle

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“
In Mitya’s hands was a brass pestle, and he flung it mechanically in the grass.

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Definitions (19)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun A club-shaped, hand-held tool for grinding or mashing substances in a mortar.
  2. noun A large bar moved vertically to stamp or pound, as in a press or mill.
  3. transitive verb To pound, grind, or mash with or as if with a pestle.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (9)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (4)

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Examples (50)

  • He set aside the skillet and took up a pestle, and began to pound the beans. —  0 Jerusalem - Laurie R. King - Russell-Holmes 05
  • As our cooking and eating utensils consisted of a hommany block and pestle, a small kettle, a knife or two, and a few vessels of bark or wood, it required but little time to keep them in order for use. —  A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison
  • Staring at the mortar and pestle, her eyes filled with an infinite sadness, she started sobbing and shaking her head. —  AHMM, April 2002
  • Shaped like a large wooden pestle, the muddler is a must for summer drinks, like the Mojito or Mint Julep, which require muddling to bring out the mint's flavor. —  Stories from The Sun
  • Too bad I've already bought at mortar and pestle, a beaker, and a scale-all paraphernelia I though I might need to do it myself. —  Beyond Meds
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This word has been looked up 113 times.

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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English pestel, from Old French, from Latin pistillum.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Formerly also pestell; from Middle English pestel, pestelle, from Old French pestel, pesteil = Italian pestello (cf. Russian pestŭ), from Latin pistillum, pistillus, Middle Latin also pistellus, pestellus, pestillum, a pounder, pestle, diminutive of *pistrum, from pistus, past participle pinsere, pisere, pound, = Greek πτίσσ, σ1ειν, bray, winnow, = Sanskrit √ pish, pound. Cf. pistil, which is directly from the L. pistillum.
  2. from pestle, n.
 

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/ˈpɛsl/
by American Heritage

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