1. [n]  the act of grinding to a powder or dust
2. [n]  a plant consisting of buildings with facilities for manufacturing
3. [n]  machine that processes materials by grinding or crushing
4. [n]  English philosopher and economist remembered for his interpretations of empiricism and utilitarianism (1806-1873)
5. [n]  Scottish philosopher who expounded Bentham's utilitarianism; father of John Stuart Mill (1773-1836)
6. [v]  grind with a mill; "mill grain"
7. [v]  roll out (metal) with a rolling machine
8. [v]  of the edge of a coin
9. [v]  move about in a confused manner

Mill
A fictional account of how four cotton mills were constructed in 19th-century Rhode Island. Detailed b&w; drawings accompany the text.

more details ...

1. \Mill\ (m[i^]l), n. [L. mille a thousand. Cf. {Mile}.]
   A money of account of the United States, having the value of
   the tenth of a cent, or the thousandth of a dollar.
   

2. \Mill\, n. [OE. mille, melle, mulle, milne, AS. myln,
   mylen; akin to D. molen, G. m["u]hle, OHG. mul[=i], mul[=i]n,
   Icel. mylna; all prob. from L. molina, fr. mola millstone;
   prop., that which grinds, akin to molere to grind, Goth.
   malan, G. mahlen, and to E. meal. [root]108. See Meal flour,
   and cf. {Moline}.]
   1. A machine for grinding or comminuting any substance, as
      grain, by rubbing and crushing it between two hard, rough,
      or intented surfaces; as, a gristmill, a coffee mill; a
      bone mill.
   2. A machine used for expelling the juice, sap, etc., from
      vegetable tissues by pressure, or by pressure in
      combination with a grinding, or cutting process; as, a
      cider mill; a cane mill.
   3. A machine for grinding and polishing; as, a lapidary mill.
   4. A common name for various machines which produce a
      manufactured product, or change the form of a raw material
      by the continuous repetition of some simple action; as, a
      sawmill; a stamping mill, etc.
   5. A building or collection of buildings with machinery by
      which the processes of manufacturing are carried on; as, a
      cotton mill; a powder mill; a rolling mill.
   6. (Die Sinking) A hardened steel roller having a design in
      relief, used for imprinting a reversed copy of the design
      in a softer metal, as copper.
   7. (Mining)
      (a) An excavation in rock, transverse to the workings,
          from which material for filling is obtained.
      (b) A passage underground through which ore is shot.
   8. A milling cutter. See Illust. under {Milling}.
   9. A pugilistic. [Cant] --R. D. Blackmore.
   {Edge mill}, {Flint mill}, etc. See under {Edge}, {Flint},
      etc.
   {Mill bar} (Iron Works), a rough bar rolled or drawn directly
      from a bloom or puddle bar for conversion into merchant
      iron in the mill.
   {Mill cinder}, slag from a puddling furnace.
   {Mill head}, the head of water employed to turn the wheel of
      a mill.
   {Mill pick}, a pick for dressing millstones.
   {Mill pond}, a pond that supplies the water for a mill.
   {Mill race}, the canal in which water is conveyed to a mill
      wheel, or the current of water which drives the wheel.
   {Mill tail}, the water which flows from a mill wheel after
      turning it, or the channel in which the water flows.
   {Mill tooth}, a grinder or molar tooth.
   {Mill wheel}, the water wheel that drives the machinery of a
      mill.
   {Roller mill}, a mill in which flour or meal is made by
      crushing grain between rollers.
   {Stamp mill} (Mining), a mill in which ore is crushed by
      stamps.
   {To go through the mill}, to experience the suffering or
      discipline necessary to bring one to a certain degree of
      knowledge or skill, or to a certain mental state.
   

3. \Mill\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Milled}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Milling}.] [See {Mill}, n., and cf. {Muller}.]
   1. To reduce to fine particles, or to small pieces, in a
      mill; to grind; to comminute.
   2. To shape, finish, or transform by passing through a
      machine; specifically, to shape or dress, as metal, by
      means of a rotary cutter.
   3. To make a raised border around the edges of, or to cut
      fine grooves or indentations across the edges of, as of a
      coin, or a screw head; also, to stamp in a coining press;
      to coin.
   4. To pass through a fulling mill; to full, as cloth.
   5. To beat with the fists. [Cant] --Thackeray.
   6. To roll into bars, as steel.
   {To mill chocolate}, to make it frothy, as by churning.
   

4. \Mill\, v. i. (Zo["o]l.)
   To swim under water; -- said of air-breathing creatures.
   

5. \Mill\, v. i.
   1. To undergo hulling, as maize.
   2. To move in a circle, as cattle upon a plain.
            The deer and the pig and the nilghar were milling
            round and round in a circle of eight or ten miles
            radius.                               --Kipling.
   3. To swim suddenly in a new direction; -- said of whales.
   4. To take part in a mill; to box. [Cant]
   

6. \Mill\, n.
   1. Short for {Treadmill}.
   2. The raised or ridged edge or surface made in milling
      anything, as a coin or screw.
   

7. \Mill\, v. t.
   1. (Mining) To fill (a winze or interior incline) with broken
      ore, to be drawn out at the bottom.
   2. To cause to mill, or circle round, as cattle.
   

Arithmetic and Logic Unit

for grinding corn, mentioned as used in the time of Abraham (Gen. 18:6). That used by the Hebrews consisted of two circular stones, each 2 feet in diameter and half a foot thick, the lower of which was called the "nether millstone" (Job 41:24) and the upper the "rider." The upper stone was turned round by a stick fixed in it as a handle. There were then no public mills, and thus each family required to be provided with a hand-mill. The corn was ground daily, generally by the women of the house (Isa. 47:1, 2; Matt. 24:41). It was with the upper stone of a hand-mill that "a certain woman" at Thebez broke Abimelech's skull (Judg. 9:53, "a piece of a millstone;" literally, "a millstone rider", i.e., the "runner," the stone which revolves. Comp. 2 Sam. 11:21). Millstones could not be pledged (Deut. 24:6), as they were necessary in every family.