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millstone

 
Dictionary: mill·stone   (mĭl'stōn') pronunciation
n.
  1. One of a pair of cylindrical stones used in a mill for grinding grain.
  2. A heavy weight; a burden: This job is a millstone around my neck.

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Either of two flat, round stones used for grinding grain to make flour. The stationary bottom stone is carved with shallow grooved channels that radiate from the centre. The upper stone rotates horizontally, and has a central hole through which grain is poured. The channels of the bottom stone lead the grain onto the flat grinding section, called the land, and to the edge, where it emerges as flour. The best millstones are made from French buhrstone, quarried near Paris. In the U.S., quartz conglomerate, quartzite, sandstone, or granite is used. Stone-ground flour accounts for only a small proportion of milled flour today.

For more information on millstone, visit Britannica.com.

Thesaurus: millstone
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noun

    A duty or responsibility that is a source of anxiety, worry, or hardship: burden1, onus, tax, weight. Informal headache. See heavy/light, over/under.

Archaeology Dictionary: millstone
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[Ar]

Large circular slab of coarse rock up to 1m in diameter and typically 0.2–0.3m thick used for grinding grain in a mill. One face is roughened by means of a pattern of lines cut into the surface while the other face may be slightly domed. Millstones were used in pairs (an upper and lower stone), a central hole in each taking the spindle that keeps them concentric and in the case of the upper stone attaches to the power source that turns it.

Wikipedia: Millstone
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The interior of a functional water mill
The basic anatomy of a millstone. Note that this is a runner stone. A bedstone would not have the "Spanish Cross" into which the supporting millrynd fits.
Grinding maize in a working watermill, Thethi, northern Albania.

Millstones or mill stones are used in windmills and watermills, including tide mills, for grinding wheat or other grains.

The type of stone most suitable for making millstones is a siliceous rock called buhrstone (or burrstone), an open-textured, porous but tough, fine-grained sandstone, or a silicified, fossiliferous limestone. In some sandstones, the cement is calcareous.[1]

Contents


Types

Millstones used in Britain were commonly of two types:

  • Derbyshire Peak stones of grey millstone grit, cut from one piece, used for grinding barley; imitation Derbyshire Peak stones are used as decorative signposts at the boundaries of the Peak District National Park. Derbyshire Peak stones wear quickly and are typically used to grind animal feed since they leave stone powder in the flour, making it undesirable for human consumption.
  • French burr stones, used for finer grinding. Not cut from one piece, but built up from sections of quartz, cemented together with plaster, and bound with iron bands. French Burr comes from the Marne Valley in northern France.

In Europe, a third type of millstone was used. These were uncommon in Britain, but not unknown.

In India, grinding stones (Chakki) were used to grind grains and spices. These consist of a stationary stone cylinder upon which a smaller stone cylinder rotates. Smaller ones, for household use, were operated by two people. Larger ones, for community or commercial use, used livestock to rotate the upper cylinder.

Patterning

Millstones used in a grinder for olive oil extraction.
Making furrows on a millstone
Millstone with furrows
Dressing a millstone

The surface of a millstone is divided by deep grooves called furrows into separate flat areas called lands. Spreading away from the furrows are smaller grooves called feathering or cracking. The furrows and lands are arranged in repeating patterns called harps. A typical millstone will have six, eight or ten harps. The grooves provide a cutting edge and help to channel the ground flour out from the stones. When in regular use stones need to be dressed periodically, that is, re-cut to keep the cutting surfaces sharp.

Millstones come in pairs. The base or bedstone is stationary. Above the bedstone is the turning runner stone which actually does the grinding. The runner stone is supported by a cross-shaped metal piece (rind) fixed to a "mace head" topping the main shaft or spindle leading to the driving mechanism of the mill (either water or wind powered). The pattern of harps is repeated on the face of each stone, when they are laid face to face the patterns mesh in a kind of "scissoring" motion creating the cutting or grinding function of the stones.

Millstones need to be evenly balanced, and achieving the correct separation of the stones is crucial to producing good quality flour. The experienced miller will be able to adjust their separation very accurately.

Idiom

A millstone around one's neck is a Biblical metaphor meaning a burden or large inconvenience one has to endure.

Ancient history

Abandoned milstones at Drumcastle in Scotland.

Neolithic man used millstone functionality to process grains, nuts and other vegetable food products for consumption. These implements are often called grinding stones. They used either saddlestones and rotary querns turned by hand. Such devices were also used to grind pigments and metal ores prior to smelting.

See also

References

  1. ^ Bucksch, Herbert (1997). Dictionary Geotechnical Engineering, Vol. 1. Springer-Verlag. pp. 80. ISBN 978-3540581642. 
  2. ^ "Peak District Millstones". Stephen N Wood. http://www.peakscan.freeuk.com/peak_district_millstones_and_grindstones.htm. Retrieved 11 August 2009. 

External links


Translations: Millstone
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - møllesten, byrde

Nederlands (Dutch)
molensteen, zware last

Français (French)
n. - meule

Deutsch (German)
n. - Mühlstein

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - μυλόπετρα

Italiano (Italian)
macina, pietra da mulino

Português (Portuguese)
n. - mó (f)

Русский (Russian)
жернов, бремя

Español (Spanish)
n. - piedra de molino

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - kvarnsten

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
磨石, 重担, 碎器

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 磨石, 重擔, 碎器

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 무거운 짐, 맷돌

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 石, 重荷, やっかい者

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) حجر الرحى, عبء ثقيل‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮אבן-ריחיים, מעמסה, נטל‬


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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Archaeology Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Millstone" Read more
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