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.

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

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