grist

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)Grain that is to be ground in a mill.

   “That it will, however, cause the subscribers to wish, in their minds, for many oaths to fly about, which is a heinous crime, and to lay stratagems to try the patience of men of all sorts; to put them upon the swearing strain, in order to bring grist to their own mill, which is a crime still more enormous; and that therefore, for fear of these evil consequences, the passing of such an act is not consistent with the really extraordinary and tender conscience of a true modern politician.”

   “Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.”

2. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)A group of bees.
3. (colloquial, countable, obsolete, uncountable)Supply; provision.

   “Matter, as wise logicians say, / Cannot without a form subsist; / And form, say I, as well as they, / Must fail if matter brings no grist.”

4. (countable, uncountable)A given size of rope, common grist being a rope three inches in circumference, with twenty yarns in each of the three strands.
5. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, figuratively, uncountable)Ellipsis of grist for the mill.

   “The judge needed a case with the potential for great emotional impact to gain media coverage for his political career. He was running for judgeship on the Nevada Supreme Court. Nicky and I were in the wrong place at the wrong time. We were available, vulnerable, and expendable for political grist.”

   “True stories are embellished, the casts of fictional dramas stuffed with unlikely non-actors. All is grist to what [Werner] Herzog calls “ecstatic truth”.”

verb

1. (transitive)To grind in a mill.

   “[…] and another mill is erecting on the same stream near Sparrow Lake, to which a run of stones for gristing will be added.”

   “[…] it cleaned out two hundred and ten bushels called screenings; the balance was sold, gristed and used for seed.”