water to one's mill

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Something that helps or supports one's interests or goals.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

điều gì đó giúp hoặc hỗ trợ lợi ích hoặc mục tiêu của mình

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: water flowing to one's own mill
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The new policy is water to the company's mill.

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “water to one's mill” mean?

Something that helps or supports one's interests or goals. Literally: water flowing to one's own mill

Is “water to one's mill” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.