millstone
Plural: millstones
Noun
- (figurative) something that hinders or handicaps
- any load that is difficult to carry
- one of a pair of heavy flat disk-shaped stones that are rotated against one another to grind the grain
- A large round stone used for grinding grain.
- A coarse-grained sandstone used for making such stones; millstone grit.
- Ellipsis of millstone round one's neck, a heavy responsibility that is difficult to bear (referring to Matthew 18:6 in the Bible).
Examples
- "Paying the mortgage every month is a millstone round their necks."
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English mylneston, milneston, from Old English mylenstān (“millstone”), from Proto-West Germanic *mulīnu + *stain; equivalent to mill + stone; cognate with Danish møllesten, Middle Dutch molensteen (modern Dutch molensteen), West Frisian molestien, Norwegian Bokmål møllestein, Old Saxon mulinstēn (Middle Low German mȫlenstēn), Old High German mulinstein, mülstein (Middle High German mülstein, modern German Mühlstein).
Synonyms
Scrabble Score: 11
millstone: valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordmillstone: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
millstone: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary
Words With Friends Score: 15
millstone is a valid Words With Friends word