A verb meaning to pound or beat in a mortar, as grain is crushed to produce fine flour or manna was ground. It describes the act of grinding or crushing with a pestle. While mundane in its everyday usage, the word carries spiritual resonance in contexts of suffering and refinement.
The act of grinding in the mortar is a powerful biblical image of both sustenance and suffering. Manna was ground and pounded into cakes — something heavenly becoming ordinary daily bread through human labor. More profoundly, Proverbs uses this imagery to describe the incorrigibility of the fool — you can pound him in a mortar but his folly will not leave him. The deepest transformation of character requires more than external force; it requires the inner work of the Spirit. Yet God himself is described as refining his people — pressing them to bring out purity.