| 1. | a factory for certain kinds of manufacture, as paper, steel, or textiles. |
| 2. | a building equipped with machinery for grinding grain into flour and other cereal products. |
| 3. | a machine for grinding, crushing, or pulverizing any solid substance: a coffee mill. |
| 4. | any of various machines that modify the shape or size of a workpiece by rotating tools or the work: rolling mill. |
| 5. | any of various other apparatuses for shaping materials or performing other mechanical operations. |
| 6. | a business or institution that dispenses products or services in an impersonal or mechanical manner, as if produced in a factory: a divorce mill; a diploma mill. |
| 7. | Machinery. a cutter on a milling machine. |
| 8. | a steel roller for receiving and transferring an impressed design, as to a calico-printing cylinder or a banknote-printing plate. |
| 9. | Mining. a place or set of machinery for crushing or concentrating ore. |
| 10. | Slang. a boxing match or fistfight. |
| 11. | to grind, work, treat, or shape in or with a mill. |
| 12. | Coining.
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| 13. | to beat or stir, as to a froth: to mill chocolate. |
| 14. | Slang. to beat or strike; fight; overcome. |
| 15. | to move around aimlessly, slowly, or confusedly, as a herd of cattle (often fol. by about or around). |
| 16. | Slang. to fight or box. |
| 17. | through the mill, Informal. undergoing or having undergone severe difficulties, trials, etc., esp. with an effect on one's health, personality, or character: He's really been through the mill since his wife's death. |

| Mill, John Stuart 1806-1873. British philosopher and economist known especially for his interpretations of empiricism and utilitarianism. His many works include A System of Logic (1843), Principles of Political Economy (1848), and The Subjection of Women (1869). |
Mill
for grinding corn, mentioned as used in the time of Abraham (Gen. 18:6). That used by the Hebrews consisted of two circular stones, each 2 feet in diameter and half a foot thick, the lower of which was called the "nether millstone" (Job 41:24) and the upper the "rider." The upper stone was turned round by a stick fixed in it as a handle. There were then no public mills, and thus each family required to be provided with a hand-mill. The corn was ground daily, generally by the women of the house (Isa. 47:1, 2; Matt. 24:41). It was with the upper stone of a hand-mill that "a certain woman" at Thebez broke Abimelech's skull (Judg. 9:53, "a piece of a millstone;" literally, "a millstone rider", i.e., the "runner," the stone which revolves. Comp. 2 Sam. 11:21). Millstones could not be pledged (Deut. 24:6), as they were necessary in every family.
mill
see grist for the mill; mills of the gods grind slowly; run of the mill; through the mill; tilt at windmills.