mill

MIL/mɪl/

Pluralmills, mill

Verbmills, milling, milled

38 meanings of mill

Practice

1
factorynouncountable
A large factory that makes things like paper, steel, or cloth.
Her father worked at the steel mill for thirty years.
The paper mill released clean water back into the river.
UsageSay steel mill or paper mill.
Similarfactory, plant, works
2
grinding buildingnouncountable
A building where grain is ground, or where work like weaving or cloth-making is done.
The old flour mill by the river is now a museum.
Workers walked to the mill every morning before dawn.
Similarfactory, works, plant
Note
3
nouncountable
A machine or tool that grinds things like grain, coffee, or pepper into small pieces or powder.
Like a blender that grinds hard seeds into fine powder.
She ground fresh pepper over her salad with a small wooden mill.
She turned the handle of the pepper mill over her plate.
UsageSay pepper mill or coffee mill.
Similargrinder
4
grindverbtransitive
To crush or grind something into smaller pieces using a machine.
Like grinding coffee beans into powder.
They mill the wheat into fine flour every fall.
The factory milled tons of barley last week.
UsageSay mill wheat or mill flour.
Similargrind, crush, pulverize
5
nounderogatoryfigurativelycountable
A place or business that turns out lots of something quickly and carelessly, like fake degrees.
Like a factory making cheap toys as fast as it can, not caring if they break.
Critics called the clinic a prescription mill.
That law office runs like a settlement mill.
UsageSay diploma mill or puppy mill.
Similarfactory
6
wander aboutverbintransitive
To move around with no clear purpose or direction.
Like a crowd wandering around with nowhere in particular to go.
Fans milled around outside the stadium for hours.
People mill near the entrance, waiting for the doors to open.
UsageOften mill around somewhere.
Similarwander, drift, mingle, swarm, throng
Note
7
shape by machineverbtransitive
To shape, smooth, or finish something using a machine.
They mill the edges of each metal part to make them smooth and even.
The factory mills the metal panels before painting them.
Similarmachine, shape, finish, dress
Note
8
nouncountable
A machine that cuts and shapes hard materials like metal, wood, or plastic.
Like a tool that shaves metal the way a knife shaves wood.
The shop bought a new mill to cut metal parts.
He used the mill to carve a slot in the steel block.
Note
9
nouncountable
One thousandth of a dollar, a tenth of a cent, used mainly in tax and utility rates.
Like cutting one dollar into a thousand tiny pieces and taking one for each thousand dollars of value.
The town raised property taxes by two mills this year.
Each mill adds one dollar of tax for every thousand dollars your home is worth.
Note
10
cutter bitnouncountable
The cutting tool that does the work in a milling machine.
The machinist put a new end mill in the spindle before the next cut.
The worn end mill was chipped, so the cuts came out rough.
Similarcutter

Less common meanings

11
millionnouncolloquial
Another spelling of mil: a million, usually a million dollars or pounds.
He thinks his house is worth at least two mill now.
He made nearly a mill on that one deal.
Note
12
nouncolloquialabbreviationclipping
Short for millimeter, used in casual talk: a unit of length equal to one thousandth of a meter.
I need a drill bit that is six mill wide.
The metric bolt head is ten mill, so grab the right wrench.
Note
13
enginenouncolloquialcountable
An engine, especially in a car or motorcycle.
He dropped a bigger mill into his old truck.
That bike has a powerful mill under the tank.
Similarengine, motor, powerplant
14
juice pressnouncountable
A machine that squeezes juice or sap out of plants, sometimes by crushing them too.
Like squeezing an orange to get the juice out, but done by a machine.
They crushed the apples in a cider mill.
The sugar mill crushed the cane to squeeze out its juice.
Similarpress, crusher
15
ridge coin edgesverbtransitive
To cut small grooves or a pattern around the edge of a round object like a coin.
The mint workers mill each coin to add ridges to its edge.
The mint will mill the edges of the new coins.
Similarreed, knurl
Note
16
roll into barsverbtransitive
To press hot metal into bars or strips using heavy rollers.
Like rolling out dough into long strips, only with hot metal.
The factory can mill steel into bars of many sizes.
Workers milled the iron into long, flat strips.
Similarroll
17
herd in circlesverbtransitive
To make a group of people or animals move around in a circle.
The cowboys rode hard to mill the running herd until it slowed.
The riders milled the frightened cattle in a circle until they stopped running.
18
fistfightnounarchaic
A boxing match or a fistfight.
Word spread of a mill between the two champions.
The mill lasted four rounds, when giddy little Ettie was declared the victress.
1902, The Sydney Sportsman, column 6Here, mill means a fistfight or boxing match.
Note
19
nounrare
The set of small ridges cut into the edge of a coin or screw.
20
noun
Another spelling of mil: one thousandth of an inch, used for very thin things.
21
verb
To move a card from a player's deck straight to the discard pile.
22
noun
In card games, moving cards straight from a deck to the discard pile, often to win by emptying a deck.
23
verbslang
To fight with fists or hit someone again and again.
24
noun
A line of three matching pieces in the game nine men's morris.
25
noun
A hard steel roller that presses a pattern into soft metal.
26
noun
In a mine, a hole dug to get rock for filling spaces.
27
noun
A passage in a mine that ore is dropped down.
28
noun
A wheel that prisoners had to walk on as punishment.
29
nounslangUS
A jail for soldiers on an army base.
30
nounslang
A place where soldiers were cleaned of lice.
31
noun
A typewriter that radio or telegraph workers used to type out incoming messages.
32
verb
For a whale or other air-breathing animal, to swim along under the water.
33
verb
For a whale, to change direction all at once.
34
verb
To beat and wash cloth to make it thick.
35
verb
To beat hot chocolate until it is foamy.
36
verb
For grain, to have its outer shell taken off.
37
verb
In a mine, to fill a sloping shaft with loose ore.
38
verbobsoleteUK
To break into a house to rob it.
And why not?—You would think little of peaching and hanging him for this Scotch affair.—Rat me, one might have milled the Bank of England, and less noise about it.
1818, Walter Scott, The Heart of Midlothian

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of mill apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–8, 10, 13–18

From Old English "mylen," which came from Late Latin "molina." This traces back to the Latin verb "molo," meaning "to grind."

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

Mill derives from Old English mylen. en.wiktionary.org
Old English mylen ultimately came from Late Latin molina through Proto-West Germanic. en.wiktionary.org
The Latin source traces back to molō, meaning to grind. en.wiktionary.org

Meanings 9, 12

From Latin "millesimum." The short form for millimetre is clipped from the word "millimetre."

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

Mill derives from Latin millesimum. en.wikipedia.org
This conflates separate origins. The currency term derives from Latin millesimum and appears in a 1786 Treasury report, before the metric nomenclature. Mill meaning millimetre is a separate clipping. tile.loc.gov

Meaning 11

A shortened form of "million."

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

Mill is a shortened form of million. en.wiktionary.org