Grist is
grainGRAIN is an international non-governmental organization based in Barcelona, Spain, which works toward sustainable agriculture. It was formed upon the realization that the genetic diversity of the world's food crops are being drastically eliminated...
that has been separated from its
chaffChaff is the inedible, dry, scaly protective casings of the seeds of cereal grain, or similar fine, dry, scaly plant material such as scaly parts of flowers, or finely chopped straw...
in preparation for grinding. It can also mean grain that has been ground at a grist mill. Its
etymologyEtymology is the study of the history of words and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages, and texts about the languages, to gather knowledge about how words were used at earlier stages, and...
derives from the verb
grindThe grind of a blade refers to the shape of the cross-section of the blade. It is distinct from the type of blade , though different tools and blades may have lent their name to a particular grind.Grinding involves removing significant portions of metal from the blade and is thus distinct from...
.
Grist can be ground into meal or
flourFlour is a powder made of cereal grains or roots. It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many civilizations, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
, depending on how coarsely it is ground.
MaizeMaize , is a herbaceous plant domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread throughout the American continents...
made into grist is called
gritsGrits is an aboriginal American corn-based food common in the Southern United States, consisting of coarsely ground corn.Grits is similar to other thick maize-based porridges from around the world such as polenta. It also has a resemblance to farina, a thinner porridge. The word leads back to the...
when it is coarse, and corn meal when it is finely ground.
WheatWheat is a worldwide cultivated grass from the Fertile Crescent region of the Near East. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, oats,
barleyBarley is a cereal grain derived from the annual grass Hordeum vulgare. It serves as a major animal feed crop, with smaller amounts used for malting and in health food. It is used in soups, stews and barley bread in various countries, such as Scotland and in Africa...
, and
buckwheatBuckwheat refers to plants in two genera of the dicot family Polygonaceae: the Eurasian genus Fagopyrum, and the North American genus Eriogonum. The crop plant, common buckwheat, is Fagopyrum esculentum. Tartary buckwheat or "bitter buckwheat" is also used as a crop, but it is much less common...
are also ground and sifted into flour and
farinaFarina is a cereal food, frequently described as mild-tasting, usually served warm, made from cereal grains. In contemporary English use, the word usually refers to semolina or Cream of Wheat made from soft wheat. Wheat farina is a carbohydrate-rich food, often cooked in boiling water and served...
.
Grist is also used in
brewingBrewing is the production of alcoholic beverages and alcohol fuel through fermentation. The term is used for the production of beer, although the word "brewing" is also used to describe the fermentation process used to create wine and mead. It can also refer to the process of producing sake and soy...
and
distillationDistillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in their volatilities in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....
to make a
mashIn brewing and distilling, mashing is the process of combining a mix of milled grain , known as the "grain bill", and water, known as "liquor", and heating this mixture with pauses at certain temperatures to allow the enzymes in the malt to break down the starch in the...
.
The
proverbA proverb , also called a byword or nayword, is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim...
“all is grist for the mill” means “everything can be made useful, or be a source of profit.” There are some minor variations, such as "all's grist that comes to my/his/her mill", meaning that the person in question can make something positive out of anything that comes along.
A
millerA miller usually refers to a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a cereal crop to make flour.Milling is among the oldest of human occupations...
ground whatever grain was brought to him, and charged a portion of the final product for the service.
Grist is
grainGRAIN is an international non-governmental organization based in Barcelona, Spain, which works toward sustainable agriculture. It was formed upon the realization that the genetic diversity of the world's food crops are being drastically eliminated...
that has been separated from its
chaffChaff is the inedible, dry, scaly protective casings of the seeds of cereal grain, or similar fine, dry, scaly plant material such as scaly parts of flowers, or finely chopped straw...
in preparation for grinding. It can also mean grain that has been ground at a grist mill. Its
etymologyEtymology is the study of the history of words and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages, and texts about the languages, to gather knowledge about how words were used at earlier stages, and...
derives from the verb
grindThe grind of a blade refers to the shape of the cross-section of the blade. It is distinct from the type of blade , though different tools and blades may have lent their name to a particular grind.Grinding involves removing significant portions of metal from the blade and is thus distinct from...
.
Grist can be ground into meal or
flourFlour is a powder made of cereal grains or roots. It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many civilizations, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
, depending on how coarsely it is ground.
MaizeMaize , is a herbaceous plant domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread throughout the American continents...
made into grist is called
gritsGrits is an aboriginal American corn-based food common in the Southern United States, consisting of coarsely ground corn.Grits is similar to other thick maize-based porridges from around the world such as polenta. It also has a resemblance to farina, a thinner porridge. The word leads back to the...
when it is coarse, and corn meal when it is finely ground.
WheatWheat is a worldwide cultivated grass from the Fertile Crescent region of the Near East. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, oats,
barleyBarley is a cereal grain derived from the annual grass Hordeum vulgare. It serves as a major animal feed crop, with smaller amounts used for malting and in health food. It is used in soups, stews and barley bread in various countries, such as Scotland and in Africa...
, and
buckwheatBuckwheat refers to plants in two genera of the dicot family Polygonaceae: the Eurasian genus Fagopyrum, and the North American genus Eriogonum. The crop plant, common buckwheat, is Fagopyrum esculentum. Tartary buckwheat or "bitter buckwheat" is also used as a crop, but it is much less common...
are also ground and sifted into flour and
farinaFarina is a cereal food, frequently described as mild-tasting, usually served warm, made from cereal grains. In contemporary English use, the word usually refers to semolina or Cream of Wheat made from soft wheat. Wheat farina is a carbohydrate-rich food, often cooked in boiling water and served...
.
Grist is also used in
brewingBrewing is the production of alcoholic beverages and alcohol fuel through fermentation. The term is used for the production of beer, although the word "brewing" is also used to describe the fermentation process used to create wine and mead. It can also refer to the process of producing sake and soy...
and
distillationDistillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in their volatilities in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....
to make a
mashIn brewing and distilling, mashing is the process of combining a mix of milled grain , known as the "grain bill", and water, known as "liquor", and heating this mixture with pauses at certain temperatures to allow the enzymes in the malt to break down the starch in the...
.
“Grist for the mill”
The
proverbA proverb , also called a byword or nayword, is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim...
“all is grist for the mill” means “everything can be made useful, or be a source of profit.” There are some minor variations, such as "all's grist that comes to my/his/her mill", meaning that the person in question can make something positive out of anything that comes along.
A
millerA miller usually refers to a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a cereal crop to make flour.Milling is among the oldest of human occupations...
ground whatever grain was brought to him, and charged a portion of the final product for the service. Therefore, all grain arriving at the mill represented income, regardless of its quality. The first recorded usage was in the sixteenth century, but the term is probably much older. The term “
gristmillA gristmill or grist mill is a building in which grain is ground into flour, or the grinding mechanism itself. In many countries these are referred to as corn mills or flour mills.- Early history :...
” was once common in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and
BritainThe Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in northwest Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1801...
to describe a small mill open to all comers.
Software
The term
grist in software interpreters (such as a
Unix shellA Unix shell is a command-line interpreter and script host that provides a traditional user interface for the Unix operating system and for Unix-like systems...
) refers to the addition of characters before and/or after a parameter to ensure uniqueness to the interpreter. For example, in a UNIX shell if there is a file named "-f" in the current directory, the following command:
> rm -f
Will not work because "-f" is interpreted as an option to the "rm" command. Rather, one needs to "add grist" to get the appropriate behavior:
> rm ./-f
In this case, "./" is grist because it prevents "-f" from being interpreted as an option.