Fletcher, Island Princess

1. grindstone (grindʻstön, popularly grin'stōn), n. [ Thow shalt not taak in stedde of a wed the nethermore and ouermore grynstoon . Wyclif , Deut. xxiv. 6 (Oxf.). 21. A mill for grinding corn. The puple wenten abowt, gederynge it (the manna) and breke it in a gryndstoon . Wyclif , Num. xi. 8 (Oxf.). 3. A solid wheel of stone mounted on a spindle and turned by a winch-handle, by a treadle, or by machinery, used for grinding, sharpening, or polishing. The stone generally used for this purpose is a fine kind of sandstone found in England, Germany, Nova Scotia, and Arkansas, and at Berea in Ohio. Artificial grindstones are made of sand, corundum, emery, or some other abradant, and a cement. Grindstones are employed for three purposes: to smooth surfaces, to reduce metal to a given thickne , and to sharpen edge tools. Joshua Rose , Practical Machinist, p. 347. Bilston grindstone, a stone quarried at Bilston in Staff ords hire, England, and used chiefly for grindstones. To bring, keep, put, or hold one's nose to the grindstone, to subject one to severe toil or punishment. He would chide them and tell them they might be ashamed, for lack of courage to suffer the Lacedæmonians to hold their noses to the grindstone. North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 241. His tutor made it one of his main objects in life to keep the boy's aspiring nose to the grindstone of grammatical minutiæ. Mrs. H. Ward, Robert Elsmere.