millstone

Syllables: mill·stoneUK/ˈmɪlstəʊn/US/ˈmɪlˌstoʊn/

millstone noun: a large round stone used for grinding grain. Also the ellipsis of millstone around one's neck.

Image: Rosser1954 Roger Griffith, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

millstone (plural millstones)

A large round stone used for grinding grain.
- As it is the circular Motion of the Mill-ſtone which brings the Corn out of the Hopper by Jerks, and with a Velocity depending upon that of the Stone, other Grains are always ſucceeding, which raiſe it anew, and the Flower just made being no longer preſs'd is carry'd away into the Boulting Mill by...1744, J[ohn] T[heophilus] Desaguliers, “Lecture XII. On Engines, especially Hydrostatical and Hydraulick Machines.”, in A Course of Experimental Philosophy, volume II, London: Printed for W. Innys...
- The reason why a mill-stone signifies confirmation from the Word in both senses, is, because wheat signifies good, and fine flour the truth thereof, hence by a mill-stone, by which wheat is ground into fine flour, or barley into meal, is signified the production of truth from good, or the...1815, Emanuel Swedenborg, “[Book of Revelation,] Chapter XVIII”, in John Clowes, transl., The Apocalypse, or Book of Revelations, Explained According to the Spiritual Sense; in which are Revealed the...
A coarse-grained sandstone used for making such stones; millstone grit.
- In North America the millstone grit, and a grey sandy and slaty rock beneath it, occur three times; and it is exceedingly difficult to distinguish these rocks in hand specimens, without the aid of organized remains. And remains are almost exclusively confined to the grey rocks. Common quarrymen...1832, Amos Eaton, Geological Text-book, for Aiding the Study of North American Geology: Being a Systematic Arrangement of Facts, Collected by the Author and His Pupils, under the Patronage of the...
- From the above account it will be seen how closely the Millstone Grit and the Lower Coal Measures are like one another in their lithological character. Each is a group of thick sandstones parted by shales, and in each beds of coal are very generally found on the top of the sandstones. The...1869, A. H. Green, C[lement] le Neve Foster, J. R. Dakyns, “Lower Coal-measures or Ganister-beds”, in The Geology of the Carboniferous Limestone, Yoredale Rocks, and Millstone Grit of North...

Proper noun capitalized: Millstone

Millstone

A nuclear power station near Waterford, Connecticut, USA.
An unincorporated community in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States.
A township in Monmouth County, New Jersey.
A borough in Somerset County, New Jersey.
A tributary of the Raritan River in New Jersey; in full, the Millstone River.

Also used as

millstone is also the ellipsis of millstone around one's neck.

millstone meaning in Hindi, Tagalog, Arabic and Persian

millstone in Hindi

large round stone used for grinding grain: चक्की cakkī

millstone in Tagalog

large round stone used for grinding grain: batong-gilingan, gilingang bato

millstone in Arabic

large round stone used for grinding grain: رَحًى raḥan

millstone in Persian

large round stone used for grinding grain: آس âs

More languagesFewer languages

millstone in Thai: โม่ môo
millstone in Vietnamese: đá cối

Examples of millstone in a sentence

The earliest finds show teeth which are large and round like millstones – acting as grinding and pulverizing machines for fibrous vegetation.1998, Colin Spencer, “Aquatic Ape Theory. How Early Did Fish Enter the Diet?”, in Harlan Walker, editor, Fish: Food from the Waters...
Common quarrymen, farmers, and foreign geologists, apply the names, greywracke and millstone, to all these rocks promiscuously; neither having observed their different relative positions.1832, Amos Eaton, Geological Text-book, for Aiding the Study of North American Geology: Being a Systematic Arrangement of Facts, Collected...
From the above account it will be seen how closely the Millstone Grit and the Lower Coal Measures are like one another in their lithological character.1869, A. H. Green, C[lement] le Neve Foster, J. R. Dakyns, “Lower Coal-measures or Ganister-beds”, in The Geology of the Carboniferous...

Forms of millstone

plural	millstones
alternative form	mill-stone

Plural of millstone: millstones

Origin of millstone

From Middle English mylneston, milneston, from Old English mylenstān (“millstone”), from Proto-West Germanic *mulīnu + *stain; equivalent to mill + stone; cognate with Danish møllesten, Middle Dutch molensteen (modern Dutch molensteen), West Frisian molestien, Norwegian Bokmål møllestein, Old Saxon mulinstēn (Middle Low German mȫlenstēn), Old High German mulinstein, mülstein (Middle High German mülstein, modern German Mühlstein).

From millstone, mill + stone.

Words formed from millstone

Phrases with millstone

2 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about millstone

What does millstone mean?: Millstone means a large round stone used for grinding grain.
What is millstone in Hindi?: Millstone in Hindi is चक्की (cakkī). See Millstone meaning in Hindi.
How do you use millstone in a sentence?: The earliest finds show teeth which are large and round like millstones – acting as grinding and pulverizing machines for fibrous vegetation.
What part of speech is millstone?: Millstone can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce millstone?: Millstone is pronounced /ˈmɪlstəʊn/ (UK).
What is the plural of millstone?: The plural of millstone is millstones.

Words near millstone in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: millstone (page history and authors); Millstone (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-millstone.ogg.

Cite this entry: “millstone.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/millstone. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.