grist for the mill

grist for the mill

Something that initially seems bad or negative but is ultimately used in a positive way by someone. A: "The tabloids found out that you've been in rehab. How do you plan on handling it?" B: "It's just grist for the mill—I'm a changed man now, and that's what I'll tell the media. At least they're writing about me again!"
See also: grist, mill
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

grist for the mill

 and grist for someone's mill; grist to the mill
Fig. something useful or needed. Bob bases the novels he writes on his own experience, so everything that happens to him is grist for the mill. Ever since I started making patchwork quilts, every scrap of cloth I find is grist for the mill.
See also: grist, mill
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

grist for the mill

Something that can be used to advantage, as in These seemingly useless data will be grist for the mill when he lodges a complaint. This expression alludes to grist, the amount of grain that can be ground at one time. [Late 1500s]
See also: grist, mill
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

grist for the mill

BRITISH, AMERICAN or

grist to the mill

BRITISH
COMMON If something is grist for the mill or grist to the mill, you can use it in a particular situation to help you to do something. Celebrity gossip is, of course, grist for the mill as far as the tabloids are concerned. You are, of course, much better at writing songs when you are completely miserable — it gives you so much more grist for the mill. Note: `Grist' was grain that was brought to a windmill or watermill to be ground. Millers needed regular supplies of grain to keep their businesses in operation.
See also: grist, mill
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

grist for the mill, that's

That’s something useful, of which advantage can be taken. This metaphor refers to grist, the amount of grain to be ground at one time. It has been used figuratively since the sixteenth century. Arthur Golding, translator of Calvin’s theological writings, wrote, “There is no lykelihoode that those thinges will bring gryst to the mill” (1583). It was surely a cliché by the time Dickens wrote, “Meantime the fools bring grist to my mill, so let them live out their day” (Nicholas Nickleby, 1838).
See also: grist
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • grist for (one's) mill
  • grist for the mill, that's
  • grist for/to somebody's mill
  • grist to (one's) mill
  • dig up dirt on (someone or something)
  • dig some dirt up
  • dig up dirt
  • drughead
  • turn a corner
  • turn the corner
References in periodicals archive
Upcoming History Hounds[TM] Lectures Jan 9: Harriet Quimby: America's First Female Flyer Feb 13: Murder and Mayhem II: True Crime in Michigan History Mar 13: Grist for the Mill: Holland's DeZwaan Windmill Apr 10: Votes for Women: A Century of Suffrage May 8: A Circle of Seasons: Exploring Ojibwe Culture Jun 12: Living With the Enemy: WWII POWs in Michigan July 10: Made in Michigan: Classic Autos Aug 14: Buried Alive: Barnes-Hecker Mine Disaster Sep 11: Bombs Over Michigan: Japanese Balloon Attack Oct 9: Written in Stone: The Sanilac Petroglyphs Nov 13: From Isolationist to Internationalist: Senator Arthur Vandenberg Dec 11: Of Art and Architecture: Pewabic Pottery Please Note: Illustration(s) are not available due to copyright restrictions.
History Hounds[TM]... Unleashed!
"This debate was grist for the mill of the AfD," Altmaier said.
Merkel aide says foreign minister helped far-right in election
Given the affinities between this psychedelic work and the commercial illustration of the era, one might see Motonaga's compositions as a kind of Pop; but, as critic Tomohiko Murakami argues in his catalogue essay, such a label is misleading, for Motonaga is taking mass culture not as a subject--as a thing to be parodied or critiqued--but rather as a kind of grist for the mill, the raw material for a new language of painting.
Sadamasa Motonaga: Fergus McCaffrey
Local historian Peter Forrest was sceptical Portuguese explorers reached Northern Australia in the 1500s, but if the find was a genuine swivel gun from that period it would be grist for the mill for people that believed the theory, he said.
16th century Portugese swivel gun find may rewrite Oz history
The dislocations marking Cairo since the Sadat years - when the state abandoned Nasserism in favor of the market and peace with Israel - have provided no small amount of grist for the mill of independently minded Egyptian cinema.
When only a goddess from the rafters will do
All of that is grist for the mill of countless business newsletters.
Publishers face new U.S. president and not-so-new economic crisis
91) that Xerxes' failed invasion of Greece is attributable more to Persian mistakes than to Greek facility offers much grist for the mill. This work joins the serious works on Achaemenid history that scholars must consult.
The Greek Wars: The Failure of Persia
An intensive two-week workshop with director Marcus Stern, writer Jonathan Marc Sherman and a group of actors provided what Palmer calls "grist for the mill." The show is essentially a Dolls concert in which songs blend into hyper-surreal scenes.
Cambridge, Mass.: notes from the underground
In addition, this issue is filled with more grist for the mill: acclaimed local author MariJo Moore writes about ritual and nature, Juliet Blankespoor helps us to detox, Nikki Solomon demystifies wild yam, and Lauri Newman and Donita Allen help us create a beautiful spiral herb garden.
Women's health, women's hearts
new grist for the mill. But remember to be nice to the new residents, as they will have a clear shot at you some evening in late June of their senior year.
Annual migration
Even a recent gig as performer on an Olivia cruise provided her with grist for the mill. "I had a big crush on someone, and it didn't really pan out," she recalls, laughing.
Sage wisdom: Rachael Sage knows how to flavor her music with real-life experiences, like her Conservative Jewish faith and crushes gone wrong
How we voted in the election is another angle, and data from exit polls are grist for the mill.
Jan.-Feb. 2005: "The People Gay 2"
There's so much grist for the mill in the Gospel lesson, have you ever reflected with your congregation on Daniel or Ephesians?
All Saints' Sunday: November 7, 2004
It challenges the way we plan and train, and it certainly provides grist for the mill of doctrine development--while pointing out, yet again, that this is not the foe our parents and grandparents faced.
Benjamin, Daniel, and Steven Simon. The Age of Sacred Terror
So everything that we are living with, around and through is potentially grist for the mill. Theory and my poetry share a link in that I tend to write about things that I'm trying to figure out, things that don't make sense to me in some way--and this shares with theory the desire to make meaning.
Daphne Gottlieb