mill

mill¹ W3 [mıl] n

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1¦(grain)¦

2¦(cotton/cloth/steel)¦

3 coffee/pepper mill

4 go through the mill

5 put somebody through the mill

6¦(money)¦

7¦(million)¦

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[Sense: 1-5; Origin: Old English mylen, from Late Latin molina, from Latin mola 'mill, millstone']

[Sense: 6; Date: 1700-1800; : Latin; Origin: mille 'thousand']

[Sense: 7; Date: 1900-2000; Origin: million]

1.) ¦(GRAIN)¦

a building containing a large machine for crushing grain into flour

2.) ¦(COTTON/CLOTH/STEEL)¦

a factory that produces materials such as cotton, cloth, or steel

cotton/steel/paper etc mill

▪ an old Victorian cotton mill

3.) coffee/pepper mill

a small machine for crushing coffee or pepper

4.) go through the mill

to go through a time when you experience a lot of difficulties and problems

▪ He's really been through the mill recently.

5.) put sb through the mill

to make someone answer a lot of difficult questions or do a lot of difficult things in order to test them

▪ It was a three day course and they really put us through the mill.

6.) ¦(MONEY)¦

AmE a unit of money equal to 1/10 of a cent, used in setting taxes and for other financial purposes

7.) ¦(MILLION)¦

spoken a million

▪ Are you saying they paid a quarter of a mill for that house?

→↑run-of-the-mill

→(all) grist to the mill at ↑grist

mill ²

mill² v [T]

1.) to crush grain, pepper etc in a mill

▪ All our flours are milled using traditional methods.

▪ Add some freshly milled black pepper.

2.) to press, roll, or shape metal in a machine

mill around/about () [mill around/about (sth)] phr v

if a lot of people mill around, they move around a place in different directions without any particular purpose

▪ Crowds of students were milling around in the street.

▪ There were a lot of people milling around the entrance.