millstone
Heavy circular grinder
A millstone is one of a pair of heavy circular stones used for grinding grain.
The weight and relentlessness of the grinding process give rise to the figurative sense: a millstone is a heavy burden that weighs someone down or impedes progress.
Student debt has become a millstone around the necks of young graduates.
The biblical image of a millstone hung around someone's neck before drowning suggests inescapable punishment.
Milled grain powder
- wheatCereal crop for flour
- grainCereal plant's harvest unit
- gristmillBuilding for grinding grain
- cornCereal grown on cobs
rye · barley · oats · meal · quern · pulverize · crush · hopper
Long-winged oceanic bird
- weightMeasure of heaviness
- encumbranceHindrance or legal claim
- yokeCrosspiece binding draft animals
- loadCarried weight or burden
liability · hindrance · drag · oppression · strain · handicap · onus · debt
flour
Milled grain powder
corn · rye · barley · oats · meal · quern · pulverize · crush · hopper · runner
albatross
Long-winged oceanic bird
- weightMeasure of heaviness
- encumbranceHindrance or legal claim
- yokeCrosspiece binding draft animals
load · liability · hindrance · drag · oppression · strain · handicap · onus · debt · obligation
quern
Manual grain grinder
prehistoric · archaeology · artifact · antiquity · relic · basalt · lava · granite · mortar · metate
granite
Igneous rock, quartz-rich
- basaltFine-grained volcanic stone
- sandstoneCemented grain sediment
- gritstoneCoarse-grained sedimentary rock
lava · quarry · hewn · dressed · carved · porous · durable · grooved · furrow · eye
- Stone Age toolshandaxe, chopper, arrowhead, arrowheads, spear point
- grinding stoneswhetstone, quern
- burdensburden, load, onus, obligations, weight
- crushing wordssmash, crush, grind, pound, pulverize
- Pre-electric technologywaterwheel, water wheel, windlass, pulley, plow
- windmillsblades, Dutch windmills, rotor, sails, traditional windmills