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Noun
My technique with my dog is to grind the pill with a mortar and pestle until it is broken down, like fine sand.—Joan Morris, Mercury News, 22 Sep. 2025 The automobile, mortar-and-pestle sign and other artifacts and specimens are considered collection items, which the museum will continue to care for.—Jim Higgins, jsonline.com, 30 Aug. 2025 Freeman and Maher had recently hosted Miles Odell of Odell’s Bagel as a guest chef at Somebody People and were impressed by his technique of toasting sesame seeds and grinding them with a Japanese mortar and pestle, unleashing their fragrance.—Miguel Otárola, Denver Post, 20 Aug. 2025 Each was then ground with a mortar and pestle with some human saliva added to simulate the chewed end product.—Elizabeth Rayne, ArsTechnica, 19 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for pestle
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English pestel, from Anglo-French, from Latin pistillum, from pinsere to pound, crush; akin to Greek ptissein to crush, Sanskrit pinaṣṭi he pounds
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