Mort.' If Lour we want; I'll mill A gage, or nip for thee a bung.
1724. E. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v.
1754. Disc. John Poulter, 14. While we went a milling that swag.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Mill. To rob; also to break, beat out, or kill. I'll mill your glaze; I'll beat out your eye. To mill a bleating cheat; to kill a sheep. To mill a ken; to rob a house.
1790. A. Wilson, Poems, 73. His dearie glad of siccan routh, To mill a note was aye right ready.
1829. Scott, Mid-Lothian, xxx. Rot me, one might have milled the Bank of England and less noise about it.
3. (thieves').—To send to the tread-mill.
1838-9. Dickens, Oliver Twist, p. 122 (ed. 1859). 'So I do do as she bids me,' replied Mr. Chitling; 'I shouldn't have been milled if 't hadn't been for her.'
To go through (or be on) the mill, verb. phr. (common).—1. To go through the Bankruptcy Court; to be whitewashed (q.v.). See Mill, subs. sense 3.
2. (colloquial).—To pass through a more or less severe course of discipline, experience, or training.
1829. Scott, Heart of Midlothian, xxxi. 'She [Jeanie Deans] 's got a jark from Jim Ratcliffe' said the short fellow 'and Frank won't hear of our putting her through the mill.
1858. W. W. Pratt, Ten Nights in a Bar-room, ii. 1. P'raps you have been through the mill.
1872. Fun, 10 Aug. 'Over.' One more year on the mill, Twelve months more at the pen, Ere I of respite again have my fill—
1883. Referee, 1 July, p. 2, col. 4. He hinted at the hardships which many actors and actresses have to endure, and did not disguise the fact that he had himself been through the mill.
1887. Contemp. Rev., li. 10. Certain persons who have gone through the mill of what is known as our 'higher education.'
3. (thieves').—See mill, verb. 3.
1889. Daily News, 4 July. He had been through the mill, and could do it again.
To bring grist to the mill, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be a source of profit.
1726. Ayliffe, Parergone [Century]. The computation of degrees, in all matrimonial causes, is wont to be made according to the rules of that law, because it brings grist to the mill.
To put through the mill, verb. phr. (common).—To put to trial: as a horse before a race.
1872. Morning Post, 7 Nov. Totally disregarding the horse's retrogression in the betting after he was put through the mill I advised my readers to make him a winner.
1888. Daily Telegraph, 24 Dec. The number of yearlings put through the mill before Christmas is fewer than usual.
Mill-clapper, subs. (common).—The
tongue: specifically of women.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.
Mill-doll, subs. (obsolete).—The
Bridewell, once situate in Bridge
Street Blackfriars.
1781. Messink, in Choice of Harlequin, 'The Keeper of Bridewell's Song.' I'm Jigger Dubber here, and you are welcome to mill doll.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v.
Verb. (old).—To beat hemp in Bridewell; to do work on the treadmill. See Mill-dolly.
1751. Fielding, Amelia, 1. x. I am sent hither to mill doll.
1780. R. Tomlinson, Slang Pastoral, vi. When sitting with Nancy, what sights have I seen!. . . But now she mills doll.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Mill-dolly, subs. (thieves').—See
quot.
