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• mill
  mill

  noun

  a factory for certain kinds of manufacture, as paper, steel, or textiles.
• Mill
  Mill

  noun

  James, 1773–1836, English philosopher, historian, and economist, born in Scotland.
• mill.
  mill.

  abbreviation

  million.

mill

¹ American  

[mil] / mɪl /

noun

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.

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verb (used with object)

• mills,
  present (3rd person singular)
• milled,
  past participle,  past
• milling
  present participle

1. to grind, work, treat, or shape in or with a mill.

2. Coining.

   1. to make a raised edge on (a coin or the like).

   2. to make narrow, radial grooves on the raised edge of (a coin or the like).

3. to beat or stir, as to a froth.

   to mill chocolate.

4. Slang. to beat or strike; fight; overcome.

verb (used without object)

• mills,
  present (3rd person singular)
• milled,
  past participle,  past
• milling
  present participle

1. to move around aimlessly, slowly, or confusedly, as a herd of cattle (often followed by about oraround ).

   Synonyms:

   wander, roam, throng, swarm, crowd

2. Slang. to fight or box.

idioms

1. through the mill, undergoing or having undergone severe difficulties, trials, etc., especially with an effect on one's health, personality, or character.

   He's really been through the mill since his wife's death.

mill ² American  

[mil] / mɪl /

noun

1. a unit of monetary value equal to 0.001 of a U.S. dollar; one tenth of a cent: used at various times and places in the U.S. as a money of account, especially in certain tax rates.

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Mill ³ American  

[mil] / mɪl /

noun

1. James, 1773–1836, English philosopher, historian, and economist, born in Scotland.

2. his son John Stuart, 1806–73, English philosopher and economist.

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mill. ⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. million.

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mill ¹ British  

/ mɪl /

noun

1. a building in which grain is crushed and ground to make flour

2. a factory, esp one which processes raw materials

   a steel mill

3. any of various processing or manufacturing machines, esp one that grinds, presses, or rolls

4. any of various small hand mills used for grinding pepper, salt, or coffee for domestic purposes See also coffee mill pepper mill

5. a hard roller for impressing a design, esp in a textile-printing machine or in a machine for printing banknotes

6. a system, institution, etc, that influences people or things in the manner of a factory

   going through the educational mill

7. an unpleasant experience; ordeal (esp in the phrases go or be put through the mill )

8. a fist fight

9. ordinary or routine

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verb

1. (tr) to grind, press, or pulverize in or as if in a mill

2. (tr) to process or produce in or with a mill

3. to cut or roll (metal) with or as if with a milling machine

4. (tr) to groove or flute the edge of (a coin)

5. (intr; often foll by about or around) to move about in a confused manner

6. rare (usually tr) to beat (chocolate, etc)

7. archaic to fight, esp with the fists

Mill ² British  

/ mɪl /

noun

1. James. 1773–1836, Scottish philosopher, historian, and economist. He expounded Bentham's utilitarian philosophy in Elements of Political Economy (1821) and Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human Mind (1829) and also wrote a History of British India (1817–18)

2. his son, John Stuart. 1806–73, English philosopher and economist. He modified Bentham's utilitarian philosophy in Utilitarianism (1861) and in his treatise On Liberty (1859) he defended the rights and freedom of the individual. Other works include A System of Logic (1843) and Principles of Political Economy (1848)

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mill ³ British  

/ mɪl /

noun

1. a US and Canadian monetary unit used in calculations, esp for property taxes, equal to one thousandth of a dollar

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mill More Idioms  

1. see grist for the mill; mills of the gods grind slowly; run of the mill; through the mill; tilt at windmills.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• millable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• milling
  present
• milled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• mill
  simple
• mills
  simple
• have milled
  perfect
• has milled
  perfect
• am milling
  progressive
• are milling
  progressive
• is milling
  progressive
• have been milling
  perfect progressive
• has been milling
  perfect progressive

Past

• milled
  simple
• had milled
  perfect
• was milling
  progressive
• were milling
  progressive
• had been milling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will mill
  simple
• will have milled
  perfect
• will be milling
  progressive
• will have been milling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of mill¹

First recorded before 950; Middle English noun miln(e), mille(n) “building for grinding grain,” Old English myl(e)n “(water) mill,” from Late Latin molīna, noun use of feminine of molīnus “of a mill,” equivalent to Latin mol(a) “mill” + -īnus -ine ¹

Origin of mill²

An Americanism dating back to 1780–90; short for Latin millēsimus “thousandth”; see also mil ¹

Explanation

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mill Mill mill. mills milled milling

"A few days ago, they ran a compressor test with a big bang... even the children who were asleep woke up in fear," said Ali, a retired paper mill worker.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

Miller-Meeks made similar remarks, saying the mill would create 6,000 construction jobs and it would be “just transformational” for the area, which has been hit by offshoring.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026

President Trump and executives from Mesabi Metallics unveiled a plan to build a $15 billion steel mill in Iowa, the WSJ’s Bob Tita and Alex Leary write.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

Russell has been through the mill in 2026.

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026

She thundered to the place where the sound came from, the mill channel up ahead, where the great wheel creaked and strained.

From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda

Wright, an American architect known for his innovative designs such as Fallingwater in Mill Run, PA, and the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan, designed homes that fit into their surroundings.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026

In Boones Mill, patrons still treat Taylor, who carries a small pistol in his back pocket, as a celebrity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026

East Tennessee's water-powered Old Mill first began grinding cornmeal back in 1830 in the deep Appalachian region along the Little Pigeon River.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

The Manchester Mill reported, external that the figure had increased to 197 in 2025.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

I stepped into some clean State of California underwear and pulled on another pair of Burnt Mill Creek Pioneers basketball shorts.

From "100 Sideways Miles" by Andrew Smith

"My boy is only 28, he's in the cold mill. And it is a worry about where they'll get jobs going forward."

From BBC ● Jan. 23, 2024

“Everybody’s run that thing through the mill. I’ll let other people talk about those issues. I want to talk about issues that matter to taxpayers and voters.”

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 18, 2021

“Where that bank sits now used to be an auto and truck repair and the saw mill. There was a great, big garage. That was a town hang out,” Munsell said.

From Washington Times ● May 10, 2021

“Thank you, steel mill. And thank you, chemical processing industry that gave us time to read books.”

From New York Times ● Feb. 9, 2017

“My father said that my great-grandfather had a small mill there, a flour mill. He thought the stone you’re sitting on was part of it, it’s worn so smooth.”

From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien

Near-term demand is expected to improve as steel mills restock ahead of the holiday, says Baocheng Futures analysts in a note.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026

Traditional millers say stone-ground products are healthier than ones from industrial roller mills.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

The Blackshear, Ga., logging firm buys standing timber from landowners, deploys logging crews and hauls the wood to mills.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

El Niño has affected rainfall in Thailand, while heavy rain has disrupted cane harvesting in Brazil, the world's largest sugar producer, where mills are also diverting more cane to ethanol.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

‘You know who it is that used to write those bloody warnings in red chalk on the fences and walls around the mills?’

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

Next door at the JW Marriott hotel, ballrooms are converted into press workspaces where celebrities and their teams milled about throughout the ceremony, reuniting cast-mates who haven't seen each other since they wrapped filming.

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

If you take a loaf of bread as an example, first the grain is grown, harvested, milled and stored until it is ready to be taken to a factory.

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

Hundreds of people milled around a popular market in La Paz, stocking up on food products that had only just arrived.

From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026

PHOENIX—As officials and contractors working in border security milled around a convention-center hall this week, artificial intelligence analyzed their threat potential in real time, displaying the results on computer screens.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026

The sheep nosed open their stall door and milled around the barn, bleating.

From "Sarah, Plain and Tall" by Patricia MacLachlan

That approach can restrict the complexity of possible designs and carries a risk of micro-cracking during milling or sintering.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026

Shuttered storefronts lined Calle Real, the city's main commercial artery, where the usual flow of shoppers and residents had been replaced by scores of migrants milling around the streets.

From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026

In addition to the extra security guards milling about, many of the areas that were formerly open to the public were closed off by fences and guarded exits.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026

Shortly after opening time on a recent morning, the Kettering store already had a number of middle-aged customers milling about the space leafing through magazines—yes, it has those—or asking for advice.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

“Thank you,” I said, looking away and out over the carnival, at the tiny people milling around on the ground below us.

From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon

Related Words

• foundry
• plant
• shop