MILLSTONE

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does millstone mean? 

• MILLSTONE (noun)
  The noun MILLSTONE has 3 senses:

1. (figurative) something that hinders or handicaps

2. any load that is difficult to carry

3. one of a pair of heavy flat disk-shaped stones that are rotated against one another to grind the grain

  Familiarity information: MILLSTONE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MILLSTONE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(figurative) something that hinders or handicaps

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

albatross; millstone

Context example:

she was an albatross around his neck

Hypernyms ("millstone" is a kind of...):

balk; baulk; check; deterrent; handicap; hinderance; hindrance; impediment (something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any load that is difficult to carry

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("millstone" is a kind of...):

burden; load; loading (weight to be borne or conveyed)

Sense 3

Meaning:

One of a pair of heavy flat disk-shaped stones that are rotated against one another to grind the grain

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("millstone" is a kind of...):

stone (building material consisting of a piece of rock hewn in a definite shape for a special purpose)

Holonyms ("millstone" is a part of...):

gristmill (a mill for grinding grain (especially the customer's own grain))

 Context examples 

“Nay,” answered the bird, “I do not sing twice for nothing; give me that millstone, and I will sing it again.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

You see the millstone that he is about my neck.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But as she crossed the threshold, crash! the bird threw the millstone down on her head, and she was crushed to death.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

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.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

And when he had finished his song, he spread his wings, and with the chain in his right claw, the shoes in his left, and the millstone round his neck, he flew right away to his father’s house.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Then he was very angry, and went without his supper to bed; but when he laid his head on the pillow, the pin ran into his cheek: at this he became quite furious, and, jumping up, would have run out of the house; but when he came to the door, the millstone fell down on his head, and killed him on the spot.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

When they arrived at Mr Korbes’s house, he was not at home; so the mice drew the carriage into the coach-house, Chanticleer and Partlet flew upon a beam, the cat sat down in the fireplace, the duck got into the washing cistern, the pin stuck himself into the bed pillow, the millstone laid himself over the house door, and the egg rolled himself up in the towel.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)