mill
noun /mɪl/
/mɪl/
Idioms - a building fitted with equipment for grinding grain into flour; a machine for grinding grain
- The old mill has been converted into apartments.
- The mill can be seen grinding wheat.
- The river was harnessed to drive many mills.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- corn
- flour
- grain
- …
- operate
- convert
- restore
- …
- grind something
- stone
- wheel
- (often in compounds) a factory that produces a particular type of material
- a cotton/cloth/steel/paper mill
- mill owners/workers
- a textile/woollen mill
- a northern mill town
Synonyms factoryfactorysee also content mill, rolling mill, rumour mill, sawmillTopics Businessc1- plant
- mill
- works
- yard
- workshop
- foundry
- factory a building or group of buildings where goods are made, mainly by machine:
- a chocolate/cigarette/clothing factory
- plant a factory or place where power is produced or an industrial process takes place:
- a nuclear power plant
- a manufacturing plant
- mill a factory that produces a particular type of material:
- a cotton/paper/textile/woollen mill
- works (often in compounds) a place where things are made or an industrial process takes place:
- a brickworks
- a steelworks
- Raw materials were carried to the works by barge.
- yard (usually in compounds) an area of land used for building something:
- a shipyard
- workshop a room or building in which things are made or repaired using hand tools or machinery (usually individual items or small numbers of items):
- a car repair workshop
- foundry a factory where metal or glass is melted and made into different shapes or objects:
- an iron foundry
- a car/chemical/munitions factory/plant
- an engineering plant/works
- to manage/run a factory/plant/mill/works/yard/workshop/foundry
- to work in/at a factory/plant/mill/yard/workshop/foundry
- factory/mill/foundry owners/managers/workers
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- cotton
- feed
- jute
- …
- operate
- own
- run
- …
- produce something
- town
- buildings
- hand
- …
- (often in compounds) a small machine for grinding a solid substance into powder
enlarge image- a pepper mill
Word OriginOld English mylen, based on late Latin molinum, from Latin mola ‘grindstone, mill’, from molere ‘to grind’.
Idioms
go through the mill | put somebody through the mill
- to have or make somebody have a difficult time
- They really put me through the mill in my interview.
(all) grist to the/somebody’s mill (British English)
(North American English (all) grist for the/somebody’s mill)
- something that is useful to somebody for a particular purpose
- Political sex scandals are all grist to the mill of the tabloid newspapers.