mill·stone

(mĭl′stōn′)

1. One of a pair of cylindrical stones used in a mill for grinding grain.

a. A source of worry or distress: a responsibility that became a millstone.

b. An obstacle to success. See Synonyms at burden.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

millstone

(ˈmɪlˌstəʊn)

1. (Tools) one of a pair of heavy flat disc-shaped stones that are rotated one against the other to grind grain

2. a heavy burden, such as a responsibility or obligation: his debts were a millstone round his neck.

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

mill•stone

(ˈmɪlˌstoʊn)

n.

1. either of a pair of circular stones between which grain or another substance is ground, as in a mill.

2. anything that grinds or crushes.

3. any heavy mental or emotional burden: a millstone around one's neck.

[before 1050]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	millstone - (figurative) something that hinders or handicaps; "she was an albatross around his neck" albatross deterrent, hinderance, hindrance, impediment, balk, baulk, handicap, check - something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress
	2.	millstone - any load that is difficult to carry load, loading, burden - weight to be borne or conveyed
	3.	millstone - one of a pair of heavy flat disk-shaped stones that are rotated against one another to grind the grain gristmill - a mill for grinding grain (especially the customer's own grain) stone - building material consisting of a piece of rock hewn in a definite shape for a special purpose; "he wanted a special stone to mark the site"

millstone

noun

1. burden, weight, load, albatross, drag, affliction, dead weight, encumbrance The contract proved to be a millstone around his neck.

2. grindstone, quernstone standing in a marketplace, watching a millstone grinding wheat

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

millstone

noun

A duty or responsibility that is a source of anxiety, worry, or hardship:

burden, onus, tax, weight.

Informal: headache.

Translations

رَحى، حَجَر الرَّحىعِبء ثَقيل

mlýnský kámenmlýnský kámen na krku

en klods om beneten møllestenmøllesten

Mühlstein

muela

myllynkivi

boulet meule

malomkő

myllu-/kvarnarsteinnòung byrîi

macina mola difficolt...

klamp om foten kvernstein møllestein

mó

жёрнов

mlynský kameň

žrvanj

çile değirmen taşı yük

磨石重担

millstone

[ˈmɪlstəʊn] N → piedra f de molino, muela f
it's a millstone round his neck → es una cruz que lleva a cuestas

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

millstone

[ˈmɪlstəʊn] n → meule f
to be a millstone round sb's neck → être un boulet pour qn
The debt was a millstone round the poor man's neck → La dette était un boulet pour le pauvre homme.

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

millstone

[ˈmɪlˌstəʊn] n → macina, mola
it's a millstone round his neck → è un grosso peso per lui, è una palla al piede per lui

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

mill

(mil) noun

1. a machine, sometimes now electrical, for grinding coffee, pepper etc by crushing it between rough, hard surfaces. a coffee-mill; a pepper-mill.

2. a building where grain is ground. The farmer took his corn to the mill.

3. a building where certain types of things are manufactured. A woollen-mill; a steel-mill.

verb

1. to grind or press. This flour was milled locally.

2. (usually with about or around) (of crowds) to move about in a disorganized way. There's a huge crowd of people milling around outside.

ˈmiller noun

a person who works a grain mill.

ˈmillstone noun

1. one of the two large, heavy stones used in an old-fashioned mill for grinding grain.

2. (usually with round one's/the neck) something that is a heavy burden or responsibility, and prevents easy progress. He regarded his brother as a millstone round his neck.

ˈmillwheel noun

a wheel that provides power to a mill as it turns.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Soon after came up a millstone, an egg, a duck, and a pin; and Chanticleer gave them all leave to get into the carriage and go with them.

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Left to fight the world alone, with the millstone of her shame around her neck, she had sunk ever lower and lower.

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Narmonee took my meaning in an instant, and running out of the house, returned the next moment with a huge rough mass of rock as big as a millstone, and indicated to me that that was exactly the thing I wanted.

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"Look, your worship," said Sancho; "what we see there are not giants but windmills, and what seem to be their arms are the sails that turned by the wind make the millstone go."

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A porochial 'prentis, who is at present a dead-weight; a millstone, as I may say, round the porochial throat?

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But the moment had now arrived when earth and all his treasures were gliding from before his eyes, and when the savage Baron's heart, though hard as a nether millstone, became appalled as he gazed forward into the waste darkness of futurity.

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Poverty and zeal are an upper and a nether millstone. It is dangerous to make a third in that kind of sandwich.

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But she has no resort but to pray; and many such prayers to God have gone up from those same trim, neatly-arranged, respectable slave-prisons,--prayers which God has not forgotten, as a coming day shall show; for it is written, "Who causeth one of these little ones to offend, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depths of the sea."

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This millstone of a rock broke Hector's shield inwards and threw him down on his back with the shield crushing him under it, but Apollo raised him at once.

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But if you plod along, for half an hour, over this soft, easy carpet - giving way at every step, yielding the more the harder you press, - you'll find it rather wearisome work, and be glad enough to come to a bit of good, firm rock, that won't budge an inch whether you stand, walk, or stamp upon it; and, though it be hard as the nether millstone, you'll find it the easier footing after all.'

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You are the upper, and we the nether, millstone; this man's life shall be ground out between.

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Like millstones do they work, and like pestles: throw only seed-corn unto them!--they know well how to grind corn small, and make white dust out of it.

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