Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One of a pair of cylindrical stones used in a mill for grinding grain.
  • noun A source of worry or distress.
  • noun An obstacle to success. synonym: burden.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One of a pair of cylindrical stones used in a mill for grinding grain.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One of two circular stones used for grinding grain or other substance in a mill{1}.
  • noun (Geol.) a hard and coarse, gritty sandstone, dividing the Carboniferous from the Subcarboniferous strata. See Farewell rock, under Farewell, a., and Chart of Geology.
  • noun (Colloq.) to see into or through a difficult matter.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A large round stone used for grinding grain.
  • noun geology A coarse-grained sandstone used for making such stones; millstone grit

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any load that is difficult to carry
  • noun (figurative) something that hinders or handicaps
  • noun one of a pair of heavy flat disk-shaped stones that are rotated against one another to grind the grain

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • PLEASANT GROVE CITY, Utah — Across the street from City Hall here sits a small park with about a dozen donated buildings and objects — a wishing well, a millstone from the city’s first flour mill and an imposing red granite monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments.

    Tiny sect believes God gave Moses Seven Aphorisms before giving the Ten Commandments 2008

  • Of course the cleaning machinery is the same In both cases, so are the elevators, conveyors, bolting chests, etc. But to use the millstone is a debatable question.

    Scientific American Supplement, No. 303, October 22, 1881 Various

  • Piran is said to have journeyed across the seas on a millstone, which is a mythical way of saying that he brought his altar-stone with him.

    The Cornwall Coast

  • At the beginning of a march it may seem a mere nothing, in an hour it is an oppression; in three a millstone is a feather compared with it; and before night the inexperienced packer feels that, like Atlas, he bears the world upon his shoulders.

    A Mating in the Wilds Ottwell Binns

  • A few years back it was an axiom of the trade that the condition of the millstone was the key to successful milling.

    Scientific American Supplement, No. 303, October 22, 1881 Various

  • We decided that the answer was much like the Afghan proverb: "The wheat is a little wet, but the millstone is a little dull."

    NYT > Home Page By FERNANDO LUJAN 2012

  • A millstone was a heavy grinding stone so large that it had to be turned by a donkey.

    Propeller Most Popular Stories 2010

  • A millstone was a heavy grinding stone so large that it had to be turned by a donkey.

    Propeller Most Popular Stories 2010

  • A millstone was a heavy grinding stone so large that it had to be turned by a donkey.

    Propeller Most Popular Stories 2010

  • A millstone was a heavy grinding stone so large that it had to be turned by a donkey.

    Propeller Most Popular Stories 2010

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