grist

noun

ˈgrist 

1

a

: grain or a batch of grain for grinding

b

: the product obtained from a grist of grain including the flour or meal and the grain offals

2

: a required or usual amount

3

: matter of interest or value forming the basis of a story or analysis

4

: something turned to advantage or use

—used especially in the phrase grist for one's mill

Examples of grist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The grist mill will be relocated to the Carroll County Farm Museum. —Jeffrey F. Bill, Baltimore Sun, 3 Dec. 2024

The impertinence of the Kodak fiend has become a vast, invisible apparatus of computation that is perpetually grinding data from the grist of our daily affairs, and exploiting such information for all sorts of ends. —Ben Tarnoff, The New Yorker, 5 Oct. 2024

The dam was built to power a grist mill and later a sawmill. —Erik S. Hanley, Journal Sentinel, 9 Dec. 2024

Haters become grist for the mill, emboldening fan armies to double down on their general’s behalf. —Matthew Jacobs, Vulture, 9 Feb. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Old English grīst; akin to Old English grindan to grind

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing grist

• grist for one's/the mill
• grist to one's/the mill

Kids Definition

grist

noun

ˈgrist 

: grain to be ground or already ground