For grinding corn, mentioned as used in the time of Abraham (Genesis 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 (Isaiah 47:1, 2; Matthew 24:41). It was with the upper stone of a hand-mill that "a certain woman" at Thebez broke Abimelech's skull (Judges 9:53, "a piece of a millstone;" literally, "a millstone rider", i.e., the "runner, " the stone which revolves. Comp. 2 Samuel 11:21). Millstones could not be pledged (Deuteronomy 24:6), as they were necessary in every family.

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) A money of account of the United States, having the value of the tenth of a cent, or the thousandth of a dollar.

2. (n.) A machine for grinding or comminuting any substance, as grain, by rubbing and crushing it between two hard, rough, or indented surfaces; as, a gristmill, a coffee mill; a bone mill.

3. (n.) 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.

4. (n.) A machine for grinding and polishing; as, a lapidary mill.

5. (n.) 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.

6. (n.) 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.

7. (n.) A hardened steel roller having a design in relief, used for imprinting a reversed copy of the design in a softer metal, as copper.

8. (n.) An excavation in rock, transverse to the workings, from which material for filling is obtained.

9. (n.) A passage underground through which ore is shot.

10. (n.) A milling cutter.

11. (n.) A pugilistic.

12. (n.) To reduce to fine particles, or to small pieces, in a mill; to grind; to comminute.

13. (n.) To shape, finish, or transform by passing through a machine; specifically, to shape or dress, as metal, by means of a rotary cutter.

14. (n.) 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.

15. (n.) To pass through a fulling mill; to full, as cloth.

16. (n.) To beat with the fists.

17. (n.) To roll into bars, as steel.

18. (v. i.) To swim under water; -- said of air-breathing creatures.