grist

Etymology

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”).

noun

1. Grain that is to be ground in a mill.
   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. 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4
   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. 1720, Jonathan Swift, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift: An Essay on English Bubbles, volume 8
2. (obsolete) A group of bees.
3. (colloquial, obsolete) Supply; provision.
   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. 1719, Jonathan Swift, The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 1, volume 1
4. (ropemaking) A given size of rope, common grist being a rope three inches in circumference, with twenty yarns in each of the three strands.

verb

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