pestle

English

Etymology

From Middle English pestel, pestell, from Old French pestel, from Latin pistillum, from pīnsō (“pound, beat”). Doublet of pistil.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛsəl/
• Rhymes: -ɛsəl

• Audio (CA)

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Noun

pestle (plural pestles)

1. A club-shaped, round-headed stick used in a mortar to pound, crush, rub or grind things.
   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Laboratory”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. , volume II, London: Henry Colburn, , →OCLC, page 327:

     She then sat down by the fire, and carefully separated the stone from the pulp, which she burnt; and her next task was to extract the kernel, which she did by means of a heavy pestle and the hearth. The kernels were next crushed together, and placed to simmer over the furnace.

2. (archaic) A constable's or bailiff's staff; so called from its shape.
   • 1611, George Chapman, May-Day:

     […] whether the chopping-knife or their pestles were the better weapons

3. The leg and leg bone of an animal, especially of a pig.

   a pestle of pork

Coordinate terms

• muddler

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

pestle (third-person singular simple present pestles, present participle pestling, simple past and past participle pestled)

1. (transitive) To pound, crush, rub or grind, as in a mortar with a pestle.
   • 2020, Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light, Fourth Estate, page 47:

     ‘Next time, boy, that you use that mortar for garlic, I will personally knock out your brain, place it in the said mortar, pestle it to a fine paste and give it to Dick Purser for feeding the dogs.’

Translations

Related terms

• pesto
• pistil

References

Anagrams

• steple