grindstone
(ˈgraɪndstəʊn)
Forms: 3–8 grinstone, 4–6 gryn(e)stone, (4 gryn(d)stoon), 5–7 gryndston(e, (5 grynd(i)stan, 6 grindestone, 8 grinestone, Sc. grunstane, 9 dial. grinstwun), 3– grindstone.
[f. grind v. + stone.]
† 1. A millstone. Obs. (exc. in nonce-use).
| a 1225 [see grindle stone 1]. 1382 Wyclif Deut. xxiv. 6 Thow shalt not taak in stedde of a wed the nethermore and ouermore grynstoon. 1725 Dict. Heraldry 238 Upton tells us, this Cross is call'd Molendinaris, because it bears the upper Grindstone. 1820 Scott Monast. xv, It could not but strike the man of meal and grindstones, that [etc.]. |
2. A disc of stone of considerable thickness, revolving on an axle, and used for grinding, sharpening, or polishing.
| 1404 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 398, j gryndstan cum j axiltre de ferro. c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 768/25 Hec acates, a grynstone. 1573 Tusser Husb. xvii. (1878) 36 A grinstone, a whetstone, a hatchet and bil, with hamer and english naile, sorted with skil. 1594 Blundevil Exerc. iii. i. vi. (1636) 284 Suppose that you turne with your hand from East to West a Grind-stone, or some other turning wheele. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iii. ii. 49 To send him two great gunnes, and a gryndstone. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. iv. (1840) 63 That most useful Thing called a Grindstone. 1759 Goldsm. Bee No. 2 ¶12 Four yards of good lutestring wearing against the ground, like..knives on a grindstone. 1833 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 249 Sharpening their cutlasses at the grindstone. 1878 Masque Poets 95 And ground upon a huge grindstone His penknife, sharp and bright. |
| transf. and fig. 1654 Hammond Fundamentals xvi. 174 Literature..is the grindstone to sharpen the coulters, and to whet their natural faculties. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 24 Apr., Our aunt Tabitha acts upon him as a perpetual grindstone. 1860 Dickens Let. 4 Oct., Now the preparations to get ahead..will tie me to the grindstone pretty tightly. |
b. Phr.
to hold (keep, bring, put) one's nose to the grindstone: to get the mastery over another and treat him with harshness or severity, to grind down or oppress; also, in
mod. use, to keep (oneself or another) continually engaged in hard and monotonous labour.
| 1532 Frith Mirr. to know Thyself (1829) 273 This Text holdeth their noses so hard to the grindstone, that it clean disfigureth their faces. 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 10, I shall to reueng former hurtis, Hold their noses to grinstone. 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 46 Salus Populi suffer'd its nose to be held to the Grindstone, till it was almost ground to the grisles, and yet grew never the sharper. 1697 Vanbrugh Relapse v. iii, Let him be fetched in by the ears: I'll soon bring his nose to the grindstone. 1742 Richardson Pamela III. 309 If they can make the Man stoop to the great Point, they'll hold his Nose to the Grindstone, never fear. 1786 Burns Ded. to G. Hamilton 58 Be to the poor like onie whunstane, And haud their noses to the grunstane. 1828 Lights & Shades II. 13 People whose heads are a little up in the world, have no occasion to keep their nose to the grindstone. 1886 Miss Tytler Buried Diamonds xxviii, His nose is not to be kept at the grindstone the whole year round. |
3. A kind of stone suitable for making grindstones. Also
grindstone grit.
| 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 61 Take a piece of Grin-stone or Whet-stone and rub hard upon your Work to take the black Scurf off it. 1858 H. G. Nicholls Forest Dean ii. 27 In A.D. 1637 a grant was made to Edward Terringham of ‘all the mines of coal and quarries of grindstone within the Forest of Dean’. 1863 Dana Man. Geol. 73 Grit, Grit-Rock, a hard, gritty rock, consisting of sand and small pebbles, called also millstone grit, and grindstone grit, because used sometimes for grindstones. |