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millstone
look through a millstone
To have exceptional powers of perception. A millstone is opaque and thus is impossible to see through. I knew he was a dishonest person the minute I met him. I can look through a millstone, you know.
millstone around (one's) neck
A heavy burden. I wish I hadn't bought that house—the mortgage is a millstone around my neck.
weep millstones
Said hyperbolically of one who is deemed so cold and indifferent as to be unable to cry tears. I've never seen Claire show any emotion—in fact, she probably weeps millstones. Why didn't you comfort that poor little girl? Do you weep millstones?
millstone about one's neck
a continual burden or handicap. This huge and expensive house is a millstone about my neck. Bill's inability to control his temper is a millstone about his neck.
a millstone around your neck
a problem or responsibility that you have all the time which prevents you from doing what you want
Usage notes: A millstone is a large stone that is very heavy.
I'd rather not be in debt - I don't want that millstone around my neck. millstone around one's neck
A heavy burden, as in Julie finds Grandma, who is crabby, a millstone around her neck. The literal hanging of a millstone about the neck is mentioned as a punishment in the New Testament (Matthew 18:6), causing the miscreant to be drowned. Its present figurative use was first recorded in a history of the Quakers (c. 1720).