millstone around one's neck

millstone around (one's) neck

A heavy burden. I wish I hadn't bought that house—the mortgage is a millstone around my neck.See also: around, millstone, neck

millstone around one's neck

A heavy burden, as in Julie finds Grandma, who is crabby, a millstone around her neck. The literal hanging of a millstone about the neck is mentioned as a punishment in the New Testament (Matthew 18:6), causing the miscreant to be drowned. Its present figurative use was first recorded in a history of the Quakers (c. 1720). See also: around, millstone, neck