mill definition

Preferred term: Arithmetic and Logic Unit

1. A machine for grinding or commuting any substance, as grain, by rubbing and crushing it between two hard, rough, or intented surfaces; as, a gristmill, a coffee mill; a bone mill.

2. A machine used for expelling the juice, sap, etc, from vegetable tissues by pressure, or by pressure in combination with a grinding, or cutting process; as, a cider mill; a cane mill.

3. A machine for grinding and polishing; as, a lapidary mill.

4. A common name for various machines which produce a manufactured product, or change the form of a raw material by the continuous repetition of some simple action; as, a sawmill; a stamping mill, etc.

5. A building or collection of buildings with machinery by which the processes of manufacturing are carried on; as, a cotton mill; a powder mill; a rolling mill.

6. A hardened steel roller having a design in relief, used for imprinting a reversed copy of the design in a softer metal, as copper.

7. <chemical>

An excavation in rock, transverse to the workings, from which material for filling is obtained. A passage underground through which ore is shot.

8. A milling cutter.

9. A pugilistic. Edge mill, Flint mill, etc. See Edge, Flint, etc. Mill bar, a mill in which ore is crushed by stamps. To go through the mill, to experience the suffering or discipline necessary to bring one to a certain degree of knowledge or skill, or to a certain mental state.

Origin: OE. Mille, melle, mulle, milne, AS. Myln, mylen; akin to D. Molen, G. Muhle, OHG. Muli, mulin, Icel. Mylna; all prob. From L. Molina, fr. Mola millstone; prop, that which grinds, akin to molere to grind, Goth. Malan, G. Mahlen, and to E. Meal. See Meal flour, and cf. Moline.

<zoology> To swim under water; said of air-breathing creatures.

(01 Mar 1998)