noun
- plural of quern; primitive hand mills consisting of two circular stones used for grinding grain into flour or meal
Usage: historical; archaeological
Examples
- Archaeologists discovered several ancient querns at the excavation site.
- The museum displayed Roman querns used for grinding wheat.
- Medieval peasants relied on querns to process their grain harvests.
- Stone querns were essential tools in early agricultural communities.
- The upper stone of these querns rotated against the lower stone to crush grain.
- Fragments of broken querns are common finds at Iron Age settlements.