noun

grist

GRIST/ɡrɪst/

Grain supplied for milling into useful material.

Wheat kernels fill the sack and mill hopper, ready to serve as grist.

Clean wheat kernels ready for milling: an open sack of grain beside a small grain mill, with kernels filling its hopper and a little flour beneath its outlet.

Etymology

gristOld Englishgrinding; grain to be ground

Old English grist named both grinding and grain awaiting it. The figurative sense treats useful material as grain for a mill: something that can be put to productive use.

In context

Workshop Companion0:43

wood is stronger along the grain than it is across it sounds obvious i know these are garden variety facts that every woodworker understands however there is more grist here for your woodworking mill than might first appear

The Way Wood Works -- What Every Woodworker Needs to Know About Wood.

More examples

The miller checks the grist for stones before grinding.
This grist will be ground into flour for baking.
The waterwheel powers the stones that grind the grist.

Forms

gristmill noun — A mill that grinds grain into flour.

Similar words

grain: Grain names cereal seeds whether or not intended for milling.