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- Dictionaryrun-of-the-mill/ˌrən ə(v) T͟Hə ˈmil/
adjective
- 1. lacking unusual or special aspects; ordinary: "a run-of-the-mill job"
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Run-of-the-mill is an adjective meaning "average" or "not outstanding in quality or rarity." It comes from a noun for ungraded or unsorted goods produced by a mill, and has been used figuratively since the early 20th century.
Run of the mill is a little earlier than those and is American in origin. The mill in question was a weaving mill and the articles first called ‘run of the mill’ were clothes. An early citation of that comes from an advert by Cook, Taylor & Co. of Lowell, Massachusetts in The Lowell Daily Sun, December 1895: “Seconds and the run of the ...
Nov 24, 2021 · Run-of-the-mill first referred to weaving mills and the clothing they produced and took off in the United States in the early 20th century. Why this phrase won out over its kiln and mine counterparts is pretty simple: it's easiest to say.
Dive into the world of run of the mill idiom—explore its meaning, examples, and origin. Is it really about being just plain average? Take the quiz to find out!
Oct 23, 2021 · Run-of-the-mill means "ordinary, unspectacular" and comes from a commercial phrase about material yielded by a mill before sorting for quality. The word run has many meanings related to movement, flow, or sequence, and mill means a building for grinding grain.
0:00 - How to Say, “Run-of-the-mill.”0:17 - Examples of “Run-of-the-mill.”1:03 - Meaning of “Run-of-the-mill.”1:16 - Origin of “Run-of-the-mill.”2:43 - More ...
Origin: A mill is a building in which machinery makes products, like a factory. The phrase "run of the mill" first referred especially to machine-made clothes, which were seen as less "special" than hand-made clothes.
