mill

/mɪl/

/mɪl/

Other forms: milled

A mill is a factory or plant, especially one that's equipped for grinding grain into flour. The facility is a mill, and the machine that does the actual grinding is also called a mill.

When a mill crushes and grinds grain like wheat or corn, you can say it mills flour. Other kinds of mills might mill powder or coffee — and still other mills don't actually grind anything; instead, they manufacture things like steel or paper. If someone "mills around," they wander or move about in a confused way: "The crowd mills around during the concert's intermission." This sense of mill was originally used to describe cattle.

Definitions of mill

1. noun

   a plant consisting of one or more buildings with facilities for manufacturing
   synonyms: factory, manufactory, manufacturing plant

   types:

   assembly plant

   a factory where manufactured parts are assembled into a finished product

   auto factory, automobile factory, car factory

   a factory where automobiles are manufactured

   cannery

   a factory where food is canned

   chemical plant

   an industrial plant where chemicals are produced

   foundry, metalworks

   factory where metal castings are produced

   lumbermill, sawmill

   a mill for dressing logs and lumber

   paper mill

   a mill where paper is manufactured

   stamp mill, stamping mill

   a mill in which ore is crushed with stamps

   steel factory, steel mill, steel plant, steelworks

   a factory where steel is made

   sweatshop

   factory where workers do piecework for poor pay and are prevented from forming unions; common in the clothing industry

   textile mill

   a factory for making textiles

   armory, armoury, arsenal

   a place where arms are manufactured

   battery, stamp battery

   a series of stamps operated in one mortar for crushing ores

   bell foundry

   a foundry where bells are cast

   cotton mill

   a textile mill for making cotton textiles

   iron foundry

   a foundry where cast iron is produced

   maquiladora

   an assembly plant in Mexico (near the United States border); parts are shipped into Mexico and the finished product is shipped back across the border

   quartz battery, quartz mill

   a stamp mill for stamping quartz

   rolling mill

   steel mill where metal is rolled into sheets and bars

   type of:

   industrial plant, plant, works

   buildings for carrying on industrial labor
2. noun

   machinery that processes materials by grinding or crushing
   synonyms: grinder, milling machinery

   types:

   cider mill

   mill that extracts juice from apples to make apple cider

   coffee grinder, coffee mill

   a mill that grinds roasted coffee beans

   flour mill

   a mill for grinding grain into flour

   gristmill

   a mill for grinding grain (especially the customer's own grain)

   meat grinder

   a mill for grinding meat

   pepper grinder, pepper mill

   a mill for grinding pepper

   quern

   a primitive stone mill for grinding corn by hand

   spicemill

   a mill for grinding spices

   tread-wheel, treadmill, treadwheel

   a mill that is powered by men or animals walking on a circular belt or climbing steps

   water mill

   a mill powered by a water wheel

   windmill

   a mill that is powered by the wind

   type of:

   machinery

   machines or machine systems collectively
3. noun

   the act of grinding to a powder or dust
   synonyms: grind, pulverisation, pulverization

   type of:

   compaction, crunch, crush

   the act of crushing
4. verb

   grind with a mill
   “mill grain”

   type of:

   bray, comminute, crunch, grind, mash

   reduce to small pieces or particles by pounding or abrading
5. verb

   roll out (metal) with a rolling machine
   type of:

   roll, roll out

   flatten or spread with a heavy device shaped like a cylinder
6. verb

   produce a ridge around the edge of
   “mill a coin”

   type of:

   groove

   make a groove in, or provide with a groove
7. verb

   move about in a confused manner
   synonyms: mill about, mill around

   type of:

   move

   move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion