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Glite Dictionary
🪨 A grinding tool 🪨 To grind ⚙️ A crushing machine
to pestle

to pestle

1 7.7
To crush or grind something in a bowl using a heavy hand tool
  • verb
  • /ˈpɛsəl/
translation icon : moler
  • He decided to pestle the garlic and cumin together for the perfect seasoning.

Examples

  • They spent the afternoon pestling herbs to make a medicinal paste.

  • She carefully pestled the spices in the mortar until they turned to powder.

  • The recipe calls for you to pestle the garlic before adding it to the sauce.

  • I will pestle the spices for the curry.

  • She pestled the garlic into a fine paste.

  • Use the mortar and pestle to grind the herbs into a fine powder.

  • To make the curry paste, you should pestle the ingredients in the mortar until smooth.

Synonyms

to bray
vsto pestle
9.1

To crush seeds or plants into small pieces with a heavy bowl and stick

is the same action but focuses on using a handheld crushing tool

Compounds

knight of the pestle
  • Archaic
9.9

A very skilled cook who prepares fine dishes and grinds spices

How Fine

to pulverize
  • US
8 7.4
to pestle
1 7.7
grind
5 2.5
to crush
401 1.6
to mash
121 1.4

Surface Forms

pestle infinitive
pestled past
pestled past participle
pestling present participle
pestles third person singular

Etymology

The verb pestle comes from the same Latin pistillum idea of 'pounding', so to pestle something is to crush or grind it in a mortar with a pestle. This explains why recipes tell you to pestle garlic or spices until they become a fine paste or powder.