Meaning

noun (figurative) something that hinders or handicaps

noun any load that is difficult to carry

noun one of a pair of heavy flat disk-shaped stones that are rotated against one another to grind the grain

originFrom Middle English mylneston, milneston, from Old English mylenstān (“millstone”), from Proto-West Germanic *mulīnu + *stain; equivalent to mill + stone; cognate with Danish møllesten, Middle Dutch molensteen (modern Dutch molensteen), West Frisian molestien, Norwegian Bokmål møllestein, Old Saxon mulinstēn (Middle Low German mȫlenstēn), Old High German mulinstein, mülstein (Middle High German…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0