What does PESTLE mean?

Definitions for PESTLE
ˈpɛs əl, ˈpɛs tlpes·tle

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word PESTLE.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. stamp, pestlenoun

    machine consisting of a heavy bar that moves vertically for pounding or crushing ores

  2. pestle, muller, poundernoun

    a heavy tool of stone or iron (usually with a flat base and a handle) that is used to grind and mix material (as grain or drugs or pigments) against a slab of stone

  3. pestleverb

    a club-shaped hand tool for grinding and mixing substances in a mortar

  4. pestleverb

    grind, mash or pulverize in a mortar

    "pestle the garlic"

Wiktionary

  1. pestlenoun

    A club-shaped, round-headed stick used in a mortar to pound, crush, rub or grind things.

  2. pestleverb

    To pound, crush, rub or grind (things), as in a mortar with a pestle.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Pestlenoun

    An instrument with which any thing is broken in a mortar.

    Etymology: pistillum, Lat.

    What real alteration can the beating of the pestle make in any body, but of the texture of it. John Locke.

    Upon our vegetable food the teeth and jaws act as the pestle and mortar. John Arbuthnot, on Aliments.

Wikipedia

  1. pestle

    Mortar and pestle is a set of two simple tools used from the Stone Age to the present day to prepare ingredients or substances by crushing and grinding them into a fine paste or powder in the kitchen, laboratory, and pharmacy. The mortar () is characteristically a bowl, typically made of hard wood, metal, ceramic, or hard stone such as granite. The pestle (, also US: ) is a blunt, club-shaped object. The substance to be ground, which may be wet or dry, is placed in the mortar where the pestle is pounded, pressed, and rotated into the substance until the desired texture is achieved. Mortars and pestles have been used in cooking since prehistory; today they are typically associated with the profession of pharmacy due to their historical use in preparing medicines. They are used in chemistry settings for pulverizing small amounts of chemicals; in arts and cosmetics for pulverizing pigments, binders, and other substances; in ceramics for making grog; in masonry and in other types of construction requiring pulverized materials. In cooking, they are typically used to crush spices, to make pesto and certain cocktails such as the mojito, which requires the gentle crushing of sugar, ice, and mint leaves in the glass with a pestle. The invention of mortars and pestles seems related to that of quern-stones, which use a similar principle of naturally indented, durable, hard stone bases and mallets of stone or wood to process food and plant materials, clay, or minerals by stamping, crushing, pulverizing and grinding. A key advantage of the mortar is that it presents a deeper bowl for confining the material to be ground without the waste and spillage that occurs with flat grinding stones. Another advantage is that the mortar can be made large enough for a person to stand upright and adjacent to it and use the combined strength of their upper body and the force of gravity for better stamping. Large mortars allow for several people with several pestles to stamp the material faster and more efficiently. Working over a large mortar that a person can stand next to is physically easier and more ergonomical (by ensuring a better posture of the whole body) than for a small quern, where a person has to crouch and use the uncomfortable, repetitive motion of hand grinding by sliding. Mortars and pestles anticipate modern blenders and grinders and can be described as having the function of small, mobile, hand-operated mills that don't require electricity or fuel to operate. Large wooden mortars and wooden pestles would predate and lead to the invention of butterchurns, as domestication of livestock and use of dairy (during the Neolithic) came well after the mortar and pestle. Butter would be churned from cream or milk in a wooden container with a long wooden stick, very like the use of wooden mortars and pestles.

ChatGPT

  1. pestle

    A pestle is a tool used in cooking for crushing, grinding or mixing substances in a bowl or mortar. It is often paired with a mortar, a bowl that holds the substance being ground. The pestle is typically a heavy, club-shaped object that allows for efficient processing of ingredients to a desired consistency. The pestle and mortar method preserves the aroma and taste of ingredients more effectively than using electrical equipment. The term is also used metaphorically to refer to a heavy tool to crush or grind.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Pestlenoun

    an implement for pounding and breaking or braying substances in a mortar

  2. Pestlenoun

    a constable's or bailiff's staff; -- so called from its shape

  3. Pestlenoun

    the leg and leg bone of an animal, especially of a pig; as, a pestle of pork

  4. Pestle

    to pound, pulverize, bray, or mix with a pestle, or as with a pestle; to use a pestle

  5. Etymology: [OE. pestel, OF. pestel, LL. pestellum, L. pistillum, pistillus, a pounder, pestle, fr. pisere, pinsere, to pound, crush, akin to Gr. pti`ssein, Skr. pish. Cf. Pistil.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Pestle

    pes′l, or pest′l, n. an instrument for pounding anything in a mortar.—v.t. and v.i. to pound with a pestle: to use a pestle. [O. Fr. pestel—L. pistillum, a pounder, pinsĕre, pistum, to pound.]

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer

  1. pestle

    An instrument used in the fabrication of gunpowder.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. PESTLE

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Pestle is ranked #156044 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Pestle surname appeared 104 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Pestle.

    98% or 102 total occurrences were White.

Matched Categories

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of PESTLE in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of PESTLE in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5

Examples of PESTLE in a Sentence

  1. Japanese Proverbs: Wit and Wisdom:

    The skill of using a mortar and pestle never leaves one.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

PESTLE#10000#72522#100000

Translations for PESTLE

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"PESTLE." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/PESTLE>.

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