grist

See also: Grist

English edit

Etymology edit

From Middle English grist, gryst, from Old English grist, gyrst (“the action of grinding, corn for grinding, gnashing”), from a derivative of Proto-Germanic *gredaną (“to crunch”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrew- (“to rub, grind”). Cognate with Old Saxon gristgrimmo (“gnashing of the teeth”), German Griesgram (“a grumbler, a grouch, peevishness, misery”), Old English gristel (“gristle”).

Pronunciation edit

IPA^(key): /ɡɹɪst/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
Rhymes: -ɪst

Noun edit

grist (countable and uncountable, plural grists)

Grain that is to be ground in a mill.
- 1720, Thomas Hope [pseudonym; Jonathan Swift], “An Essay on English Bubbles”, in The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift‎^[1], volume 8:
  That it will, however, cause the subscribers to wish, in their minds, for many oaths to fly about, which is a heinous crime, and to lay stratagems to try the patience of men of all sorts; to put them upon the swearing strain, in order to bring grist to their own mill, which is a crime still more enormous; and that therefore, for fear of these evil consequences, the passing of such an act is not consistent with the really extraordinary and tender conscience of a true modern politician.
- 2013 July–August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
  Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.
(obsolete) A group of bees.
(colloquial, obsolete) Supply; provision.
- 1719, Jonathan Swift, “The Progress of Beauty”, in The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D.‎^[2], volume 1:
  Matter, as wise logicians say, / Cannot without a form subsist; / And form, say I, as well as they, / Must fail if matter brings no grist.
(ropemaking) A given size of rope, common grist being a rope three inches in circumference, with twenty yarns in each of the three strands.
(figurative) Ellipsis of grist for the mill.
- 1985 August 24, Robert Butler, “Sex More Punished Than Murder”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 7, page 5:
  The judge needed a case with the potential for great emotional impact to gain media coverage for his political career. He was running for judgeship on the Nevada Supreme Court. Nicky and I were in the wrong place at the wrong time. We were available, vulnerable, and expendable for political grist.
- 2023 November 11, Danny Leigh, “Living on the edge”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 10:
  True stories are embellished, the casts of fictional dramas stuffed with unlikely non-actors. All is grist to what [Werner] Herzog calls “ecstatic truth”.

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

gristle

Translations edit

grain that is to be ground in a mill

Armenian: աղուն (hy) (aġun)
Bulgarian: мливо n (mlivo)
Czech: mletí (cs) n, melivo n, obilí na mletí
Esperanto: ŝroto
Finnish: syömävilja
German: Mahlgut (de) n
Italian: granaglia (it) f, cereale da mola m
Russian: зерно́ (ru) n (zernó) для (ru) (dlja) помола (ru) m (pomola)
Spanish: grano (es) m (para molino), molienda (es) f

Verb edit

grist (third-person singular simple present grists, present participle gristing, simple past and past participle gristed)

(transitive) To grind in a mill.
- 1861, Sessional Papers of the Parliament of the Province of Canada:
  […] and another mill is erecting on the same stream near Sparrow Lake, to which a run of stones for gristing will be added.
- 1892, Annual report of the Department of Indian Affairs, page 70:
  […] it cleaned out two hundred and ten bushels called screenings; the balance was sold, gristed and used for seed.