grists

Noun

grist (countable and uncountable, plural grists)

1. Grain that is to be ground in a mill.
   • That it will, however, cause the subscribers to wish, in their minds, for many oaths to fly about, which is a heinous crime, and to lay stratagems to try the patience of men of all sorts; to put them upon the swearing strain, in order to bring grist to their own mill, which is a crime still more...1720, Thomas Hope [pseudonym; Jonathan Swift], “An Essay on English Bubbles”, in The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, volume 8
2. (collective, dated) A group of bees.
   • Swarming like a grist of bees...2024, Kylie Orr, The Eleventh Floor, HQ Fiction
3. (colloquial, obsolete) Supply; provision.
   • Matter, as wise logicians say, / Cannot without a form subsist; / And form, say I, as well as they, / Must fail if matter brings no grist.1719, Jonathan Swift, “The Progress of Beauty”, in The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., volume 1
4. A given size of rope, common grist being a rope three inches in circumference, with twenty yarns in each of the three strands.

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