Why do they call meatball grinders grinders?

The term "grinder" in the context of meatball grinders does not refer to the act of grinding. Instead, it refers to the grinding action that takes place inside the machine when it is used to make meatballs.

A meatball grinder is a kitchen utensil that is used to shape ground meat into meatballs. It consists of a hopper, a worm gear, and a die plate. The ground meat is placed in the hopper, and the worm gear rotates to push the meat through the die plate. The die plate has holes of various sizes, which determine the size of the meatballs. The meatballs are then cut off from the die plate and dropped into a bowl or onto a baking sheet.

The term "grinder" in this context is used to describe the action of the machine, which grinds the meat into small pieces and shapes it into meatballs. It does not refer to the grinding of the meat itself, which is typically done before it is placed into the meatball grinder.