run-of-the-mill

run-of-the-mill

Common, standard, or average; mediocre. It was a run-of-the-mill action movie—fine to kill a couple hours, but nothing special. I must say, for how many interesting points you bring up in class, your paper is rather run-of-the-mill.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

run-of-the-mill

common or average; typical. The restaurant we went to was nothing specialjust run-of-the mill. The service was good, but the food was run-of-the-mill or worse.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

run of the mill

Ordinary, average, as in There's nothing special about these singers-they're just run of the mill. This expression alludes to fabrics coming directly from a mill without having been sorted or inspected for quality. It has survived such similar phrases as run of the mine and run of the kiln, for the products of mines and kilns. [Late 1800s]
See also: mill, of, run
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

run-of-the-mill

COMMON You use run-of-the-mill to describe something or someone that is ordinary and not at all exciting. It was just run-of-the-mill TV movie stuff. The food was fairly run-of-the-mill. I was just a very average, run-of-the-mill kind of student. Note: This expression may be using the image of a watermill making the same movements continuously and regularly so long as the flow of water stays the same. Another suggestion is that it comes from the use of `run-of-the-mill' in the United States as a term for timber which has been sawn at a sawmill but has not yet been graded.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

run of the mill

the ordinary or undistinguished type.
In this expression, the run is literally the material produced from a mill before it has been sorted or inspected for quality.
See also: mill, of, run
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

ˌrun-of-the-ˈmill

(often disapproving) ordinary, with no special or interesting features: a run-of-the-mill job
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

run-of-the-mill

mod. average; typical. (Referring to the typical quality of a product that comes out of a mill.) This stuff is just run-of-the-mill.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

run of the mill

An ordinary, uneventful sequence of events. The run in this term refers to a mill’s average output, before it has been graded or sorted. Also stated as run of the mine or the kiln, these terms come from the late nineteenth century. They began to be used figuratively in the twentieth century, as in “A darned sight better-looking than the run of the mill wives” (Hearst’s International, 1930). It is also written run-of-the-mill.
See also: mill, of, run
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • run of the mill
  • not anything to write home about
  • not something to write home about
  • not worth writing home about
  • gin mill
  • palace
  • be in at the kill
  • grist to the mill
  • pass in a crowd
  • so-so
References in periodicals archive
We start by converting a standard, run-of-the-mill classroom to a connected classroom by capturing the entire front of the room via high resolution digital camera.
Remember, what is considered run-of-the-mill at camp is magic at home.
The building typologies that interest them have been neglected lately: dense housing, office parks, brownfield reclamation developments--the run-of-the-mill buildings that make up most of the construction happening across the globe.
Really, how do you make a run-of-the-mill internist a subspecialist?
They cover 170 years of the company's presence in the area and in amongst the run-of-the-mill routine they reveal some remarkable events.
All of which means it's a buyer's bonanza out there - a view shared by Manheim Auctions, who are forecasting a "pretty tough" time for the used car market over the coming eight weeks, highlighting a glut of average condition, high-mileage, run-of-the-mill cars at auction centres, that will keep prices firmly in check.
Unruly governments, cash-hungry rebels, and your run-of-the-mill rapacious warlords around the world make as much as $12 billion a year, according to Worldwatch, by tapping into commodity flows into the First World.
"This is not your run-of-the-mill tile shop where you have boards on a wall," Fick says.
Were this just a run-of-the-mill romantic comedy--which the video packaging might mislead you into believing--Days would be about how free-spirit Andrea teaches uptight Claudio to walk barefoot in the park and smell the roses.
We based the comparison on two different chip furnishes--pure white birch reference chips, and run-of-the-mill birch chips.
One group of people who will not be happy with this are run-of-the-mill, lower-echelon career criminals.
Definitely worth a look, but is little more than a run-of-the-mill action adventure.
But the acquisition by Pamela Skokos wasn't a run-of-the-mill residential deal.
At first this may not seem too amazing, but the only component ever needing to be replaced since the car was brand new, other than the normal run-of-the-mill service items, was a front shock absorber, which demonstrates the car's reliability.
While maintaining the drama and suspense of run-of-the-mill soaps, Latin Lover will boast erotic scenes with more explicit imagery.