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Pes′tle.

1. An implement used in braying substances in a mortar.

Its use is more ancient than that of the mill. In the Bible, and in the remains of Egypt, Nineveh, and the later civilizations of Greece and Rome, it, in connection with the mortar, was a favorite mode of grinding grain for bread, as well as preparing other articles of food and medicine. See bread.

Being smaller and more fragile than the mortars, not so many of them have been recovered from the debris of ancient civilizations. See mortar.

2. The vertically moving bar in a stamping-mill. A stamp. See stamping-mill.

3. The pounder in a fulling-mill.

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