mill

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mɪl/^[1]

mill¹ grinding

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mulne, mylne, mille, inherited from Old English mylen,^[2][3][4] an early borrowing borrowed from Late Latin molīna, molīnum (“mill”),^[2][3] the feminine and neuter of molīnus (“of a mill”), from mola (“mill, millstone”), related to molere “to grind”,^[2][3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *mele- (“to crush, grind”).^[2] Late Latin molina also gave German Mühle, Old Norse mylna and French moulin.^[2][3] The n was gradually lost but survives in the surname Milner.^[2] It is related to meal and molar.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A building with machinery for grinding grain: about 961 in the OED and Barnhart.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

The grinding apparatus itself is from 1535.^[6] A machine for grinding other substances is from 1560 in the OED, the 1670s in Etymonline.^[6][2] Other machines worked by wind or water came to be called mills by the early 15th century,^[2] and a building for manufacturing, a factory, from about 1500.^[2][4] Put through the mill is from the early 19th century.^[5] A boxing match was a mill in 1819 slang.^[2] The verb, to grind in a mill, is from the 1550s and 1560s,^[2] and to flute the edge of a coin from 1724.^[2] To move round aimlessly in a crowd, at first of cattle, is from 1874.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 961 – a grain mill.^[6]
• c. 1500 – a factory.^[2]
• 1550s – the verb.^[2]
• 1724 – to mill a coin's edge.^[2]
• 1874 – to mill around.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A building with machinery for grinding grain into flour.
2. A factory for processing raw materials: a steel mill, a paper mill.
3. A small device for grinding pepper, coffee and the like.
4. A machine that crushes, presses or rolls things.

Verb

1. To grind or process in a mill.
2. To shape or finish metal with a milling machine, or cut ridges on the edge of a coin.
3. (with about or around) Of a crowd, to move around without purpose.

mill² thousandth of a dollar

Etymology

The money of account is a shortening of Latin mīllēsimum (“a thousandth part”), from mīlle (“a thousand”),^[2][3][7] formed after cent, short for Latin centēsimus “a hundredth”.^[2][7] See mile and million.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

One thousandth of a dollar, an original unit of United States currency: 1786 in Etymonline and MWU, 1791 in Barnhart.^[2][8][3]

Semantic evolution

It is now used only in calculating taxes.^[2] One thousandth of a pound was proposed as a coin in Britain and used in Cyprus.^[7]

Timeline

• 1786 – a thousandth of a dollar.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. One thousandth of a dollar, or a tenth of a cent, used in calculating taxes.

Related words

• miller
• millstone
• meal
• molar
• mile

Usage notes

Mill is also an informal shortening of million and of millimetre, both from the mid-20th century.^[7]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster