▪ I. mill, n.1
(mɪl)
Forms: α. 1 mylen, 1–2, 6–7 myln, 3–7 mulne, 4–7 mylne, 5 myllne, myllen, 7, 8–9 dial. miln; β. 1 myll, 3–4 mulle, 4 mille, 4–5 mylle, 4–6 melle, 5 myl, 6–7 myl(l, 6– mill.
[OE. mylen masc. and fem.:—prehistoric *mulīno-, *mulīna, a. late L. molīnum, molīna (whence F. moulin, Pr. molin-s, moli-s, Sp. molino, Pg. moinho, It. mulino, molino), f. mola mill, f. mol- root of molĕre to grind: see meal n.1 The late L. word was early adopted into the other Teut. langs.: cf. MDu. molene fem. (Du. molen, † meulen masc.), OHG. mulî(n fem. (MHG. mül, mod.G. mühle), ON. mylna fem., perh. from Eng. (Sw. mȯlla, Da. m{obar}lle).
For the loss of the n cf. kiln, in most dialects pronounced (kɪl).]
1. a. A building specially designed and fitted with machinery for the grinding of corn into flour. Also forming the second element in certain obvious combinations, as water-, wind-mill, flour-, grist mill, many of which are treated under the first element.
| c 961 æthelwold Rule St. Benet lxvi. (Schröer 1885) 127 Þæt is wæterscype, mylen [c 1020 (Logeman) myll], wyrtun and ᵹehwylce misenlice cræftas [etc.]. 982 in Kemble Cod. Dipl. III. 189 Se mylenham and se myln ðærto. a 1100 Gerefa in Anglia (1886) IX. 261 Faldian, fiscwer and mylne macian. a 1225 Ancr. R. 88 Vrom mulne & from cheping, from smiðe, & from ancre huse, me tiðinge bringeð. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2203 What! hit wharred, & whette, as water at a mulne. c 1374 Chaucer Former Age 6 Onknowyn was þe quyerne and ek the melle. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1604 There were bild by the bankes of þe brode stremes, Mylnes full mony. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 5422 Thys greyn was to the melle brouht. 1481 Caxton Godeffroy xx. 51 They sawe vij myllenes, whiche stode at brygge nyghe the town and sette them a fyre. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 526 A Miller that kept a Mill adioinyng to the wall. 1601 W. Fulbecke 1st Pt. Parall. (1602) 39 She shal not so be indowed of a milne, but shall haue the third part of the profit of the milne, because the milne cannot be seuered. a 1632 G. Herbert Jac. Prudent. 153 The mill cannot grind with the water that's past. a 1766 J. Cunningham Miller 2 In a plain pleasant cottage, conveniently neat, With a mill and some meadows. 1770 Goldsm. Des. Vill. 11 The never-failing brook, the busy mill. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) VI. 496 Edward Manning being possessed of the moiety of a mill for the term of fifty years, made his will. 1903 Blackw. Mag. Sept. 365/1 A leet..whose waters work the mill below. |
b. In figurative and other phrases.
to draw water to (one's) mill: to seize every advantage.
to go (pass, etc.) through the mill: to pass through a definite course of labour or experience; similarly,
to put through the mill.
to bring more sacks to the mill: to supplement argument with argument or weight with weight.
much water runs by the mill that the miller knows not of: many things happen before us of which we know nothing.
| 1522 Skelton Why nat to Court? 107 They may garlycke pyll Cary sackes to the myll. 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 60 Muche water goeth by the myll, That the miller knowth not of. 1590 Nashe Pasquil's Apol. i. C ij b, To the next, to the next, more sacks to the Myll. 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman D'Alf. i. (1630) 136 When there was nothing to be done at home, your Lackies..would..fright me with Snakes, hang on my backe, & weigh me downe, crying, More sackes to the Mill. 1649 Howell Pre-em. Parl. 10 Lewis the eleventh..could well tell how to play his game, and draw water to his owne Mill. 1677 W. Hughes Man of Sin ii. viii. 118 The Invention of bringing more water to the Popes Mill. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. in Tales My Landlord 2nd Ser. III. iv. 96 Frank here won't hear of our putting her through the mill. 1837 Knickerbocker IX. 356, I had been ‘through the mill’ of a pre-concerted, artificial revival. 1840 R. H. Dana Two Yrs. before Mast 50 I've been through the mill. 1868 H. Woodruff Trotting Horse vi. 76 It was thought that they would be ruined for service if they were ‘put through the mill’. 1887 Contemp. Rev. Jan. 10 Certain persons who have gone through the mill of what is known as our ‘higher education’. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 147 Going to do wonders, and make important changes. That will wear off—we've all passed through that mill. 1903 G. Gissing Private Papers H. Ryecroft 138 His hardships were never excessive; they did not affect his health or touch his spirits; probably he is in every way a better man for having..‘gone through the mill’. 1904 J. C. Lincoln Cap'n Eri ii. 29 Jerry's the only one of us three that's been through the mill. 1940 H. Read Annals of Innocence ii. i. 75 A boy who is destined to be a teacher, a doctor, a technician or a scientist, must go through the mill and acquire the necessary qualifications. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. x. 200 Running the Gauntlet. Although well known by this name, the ordeal is also termed..‘Through the Mill’. 1965 Listener 1 July 21/1, I am a collector—and one who has gone through the mill. I started..in the basement with bus tickets. |
c. A mechanical apparatus, whether simple or complicated, for grinding corn.
Not found until the 16th century; the
quots. 1535 hardly prove its currency, as Luther, whom Coverdale very often follows, has
mühle in both passages. The older word for a handmill was
quern; in the case of a water-mill or wind-mill, there was little occasion to separate the notion of the machinery from that of the containing fabric which was necessarily connected with it.
| 1535 Coverdale Exod. xi. 5 The mayde seruaunte which is behynde y⊇ myll. ― Matt. xxiv. 41 Two shal be gryndinge at the Myll. 1563–87, 1573–80 [see hand-mill]. 1614 Markham Cheap Husb. (1668) i. v. 40 If you cause these Beans to be spelted upon a Miln, and so mixt with Oats, it will recover him. 1674 Boyle Grounds Mech. Hypothesis 21–2 A Water-mill, or a Wind-mill, or a Horse-mill, or a Hand-mill. 1791 Cowper Odyss. xx. 135 She rested on her mill, and thus pronounced The happy omen by her lord desired. 1903 Pilot 22 Aug. 179/2 San-niang-tzŭ then produced a small mill and ground the wheat to flour. |
2. a. A machine or apparatus for grinding or reducing to powder or pulp some solid substance. Also, a building fitted with machinery for this purpose. Often as the second element of obvious combinations, as in
coffee-,
pepper-mill,
paper-,
powder-mill, etc.
| 1560 Gresham in Burgon Life (1839) I. 294 The Quene's Majestie should do well to macke..iiij or vi mylles for the macking of powdyr. 1596 Lambarde Peramb. Kent 453 Two Milles of rare deuise..the one emploied for the making of all sortes of Paper..the other exercised for the drawing of Iron into Wyres [etc.]. 1666–7 in Boyle's Wks. (1772) VI. 551 Tin always..must be prepared..by stamping, or knocking mills, which reduce the whole body to a very small sand. Ibid. 552 The tin-slag, may, by being exposed to the open air and rain for a time, be sooner prepared in the mill, and melted down. 1712–14 Pope Rape Lock iii. 106 The board with cups and spoons is crown'd, The berries crackle, and the mill turns round. 1800 tr. Lagrange's Chem. II. 71 The result will be a sulphate of lead of a beautiful whiteness, and exceedingly fine, if it be washed in a large quantity of water, and then carefully mixed in a mill. 1889 C. G. W. Lock Pract. Gold-mining 226 A new mill for reducing cement, known as Drake's cement-mill..is in form of a tube [etc.]. Ibid. 437 The order in which the stamps drop varies in different mills. |
| fig. a 1633 G. Herbert Jacula Prud. 747 Gods Mill grinds slow; but sure. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. lxxxviii, Ground in yonder social mill We rub each other's angles down. 1870 Longfellow tr. Von Logau, Retribution, Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small. |
b. An instrument designed to express the juices from any succulent matter by grinding or crushing; usually with defining prefix, as
cane,
cider mill.
| 1676 Worlidge (title) Vinetum Britannicum: or, a Treatise of Cider... And a Description of the new-invented Ingenio or Mill, For the more expeditious and better making of Cider. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 757 Then Olives, ground in Mills, their Fatness boast. 1794 J. Clark Agric. Hereford. 40 The [sc. cider] mill consists of a stone like a mill-stone (runner) set on its edge, with an axle through the center [etc.]. 1853 Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 4) II. 284 They give the name virgin oil to that which is first obtained from the olives ground to a paste in a mill. |
c. Sc. A snuff-box; originally,
† one in which tobacco could be ground to powder by a simple mechanism. (
Cf. mull.)
| 1776 C. Keith Farmers' Ha' vi. (1794), Wi' mill in hand, and wise adage He spent the night. a 1780 Shirrefs Poems (1790) 215 And there, o'er pot o' beer right spruce, And mill in hand, The carls crack'd awa' fell crouse About the land. 1805 G. M'Indoe Million Potatoes in Chambers Pop. Hum. Scot. Poems (1862) 150 In the laird's nieve John ramm'd his mill, The laird ca'd in anither gill. |
3. a. In the 15–16th c., applied by extension to any machine worked by wind or water power in the manner of a corn-mill, though not used for the purpose of grinding. In later use applied to various machines for performing certain operations upon material in the process of manufacture; often with defining word, as in
flatting-,
fulling-,
rolling-,
saw-mill.
| 1417–18, etc. [see fulling-mill s.v. fulling vbl. n.]. 1463–4 Rolls of Parlt. V. 502/2 Wollen Cloth, fulled in milles called Gygmylles and Toune Milles. 1596 [see 2]. 1621 H. Elsing Debates Ho. Lords (Camden) App. 138 Ireland and Norton came back and..surprised one milne used for other works of his trade. 1725 Watts Logic iv. i. §1 In order to make mills and engines of various kinds. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Mill..among gold-wire-drawers, is a little machine consisting of two cylinders of steel, serving to flatten the gold, or silver wire, and reduce it into laminæ, or plates... They have also mills to wind the gold-wire or thread on the silk. Ibid., There are also Silk-Mills, for spinning, throwing, and twisting silks. 1863 P. Barry Dockyard Econ. 242 The productive power of this mill is astonishing: it will manufacture armour-plates from 20 to 40 feet long [etc.]. |
| fig. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 10 June Let. iii, He observed, that her ladyship's brain was a perfect mill for projects. 1848 Lowell Biglow P. Ser. i. iv. Poet. Wks. (1879) 200 Babel was..the earliest mill erected for the manufacture of gabble. 1883 G. H. Boughton in Harper's Mag. Apr. 694/1 Model villages,..all turned out of the same mill. |
b. A machine invented by Antoine Brucher in the 16th c. for the stamping of gold and silver coins.
In the English Mint it permanently superseded the earlier practice of striking with the hammer in 1662.
| 1661 Order in Counc. in Folkes Table Eng. Silver Coins (1745) 104 Materials for the coining of money by the mill. 1662 Ibid., Several proposals..about coining his majesty's moneys by the mill and press. 1695 W. Lowndes Amendm. Silver Coin 93 All the Moneys we have now in England..are reducible to Two Sorts..one stampt with the Hammer, and the other Prest with an Engine, called the Mill. 1817 R. Ruding Ann. Coinage I. 139 The advantage of this machine (which is known by the name of The Mill and Screw) over the old mode of striking with an hammer, consists [etc.]. 1854 Humphreys Coin. Brit. Emp. 113 Pierre Blondeau..who had carried to perfection the..modes of stamping coins by the mill and screw, was invited to England... He produced patterns of half-crowns, shillings, and half-shillings, coined by the new mill and screw, by which means a legend was impressed for the first time upon the edge. |
c. Calico and
Bank-note printing: A roller of hardened steel having impressed upon it, from a hand engraved die, a pattern which by pressure is transferred in intaglio to the calico-printing cylinder or note-printing plate.
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 218 The first roller engraved by hand is called the die; the second..is called the mill. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Mill... The hardened steel roller having the design in cameo, and used for impressing in intaglio a plate..or a copper cylinder. |
d. A hollow revolving cylinder in which leather is ‘tumbled’ in contact with oil, tan, or any ameliorating liquid.
| 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 606/2 The mill is used for stuffing light leather, and for other purposes. After stoning, skiving, and shaving, the sides are put in the mill with some tan liquor to soften them and make them porous. |
4. A building or other place or establishment fitted with machinery in which a certain industry, manufacture or manufacturing process is carried on;
esp. with prefixed word, as in
cotton-,
silk-,
silver-mill, etc.,
q.v. under the first element.
| 1502 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. (1900) II. 143 Item..to the Franch armorar to set up his harnas myln. 1531 Ibid. VI. 34. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 347 Six mills, in which they make plate for armour. 1674 Ray Collect. Words, Smelting Silver 113 The Smelting and Refining of Silver at the Silver Mills in Cardiganshire. 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 287 He [Mr. Graham] cannot admit a new hand into his mill unless he has joined the combination. 1854 Ronalds & Richardson Chem. Technol. (ed. 2) I. 132 Large quantities of saw-dust accumulate at the mills. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Mill, 1, Eng. That part of an iron works where puddle-bars are converted into merchant-iron. 1905 Edin. Rev. Apr. 478 He..built mills in the neighbouring villages..for the manufacture of tools [etc.]. 1919 Brit. Manufacturer Nov. 26/2 In the linen industry a ‘mill’ means the works where flax is spun into yarns, while a ‘factory’ means the place of the further evolution of the yarns being woven into cloth. |
5. A machine which performs its work by rotary motion,
esp. a lapidary's mill.
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 1096 It [the seal engraver's lathe] consists of a table on which is fixed the mill. Ibid., Having fixed the tool..in the mill, the artist applies to its cutting point, or edge, some diamond-powder [etc.]. 1860 Tomlinson Arts & Manuf. Ser. ii. Pens 44 Each of these lengths is then pointed at each end at a machine called a mill, consisting of a circular single-cut file and a fine grit-stone. 1879 Encycl. Brit. X. 663/2 The [glass] articles are held in the hand, and applied to the mill while rotating. 1882 Ibid. XIV. 299/1 Another form of lapidary's mill consists [etc.]. |
6. slang. a. Shortened form of
treadmill.
| 1835 Dickens Sk. Boz. (1836) 1st Ser. I. 334 The mill's a d—d sight better than the Sessions. 1842 Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. ii. Misadv. Margate, A landsman said, ‘I twig the chap—he's been upon the Mill.’ 1888 Pall Mall G. 6 June 7/1 When after three days of the mill I got off at night I found my feet were four or five times their ordinary weight. |
b. transf. A prison or guard-house.
| 1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 352/2 A few weeks after I was grabbed for this, and got a month at the mill... When I came out of prison, I went to Epsom races. 1853 G. J. Whyte-Melville Digby Grand I. ix. 229 The latter worthy..gave a policeman such a licking the other night, that he was within an ace of getting ‘a month at the mill’. 1889 H. H. McConnell Five Years a Cavalryman 194 Very few, indeed, are they who during their term of service can say: ‘They never had me in the mill.’ 1916 E. C. Garrett Army Ballads & Other Verses 21 And they put me in ‘the mill’. 1928 L. H. Nason Sergeant Eadie 78 Why, put 'em in the mill! 1951 J. Jones From Here to Eternity iv. xlii. 636 ‘You were here when one of the old ones was in the mill, weren't you, Jack?’ ‘Two,’ Malloy said. ‘Both of them during my first stretch.’ 1960 Wentworth & Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang 339/1 Mill.., a prison; a guardhouse. |
7. U.S. slang. A typewriter.
| 1913 Writer's Bulletin Oct. 103/2 After I got a good idea I would hustle to my ‘mill’ and pound out some copy. 1922 N. A. Crawford Weavers With Words 22 And sometimes..I'll start to say, ‘Jim, got a good cigarette?’ and turn toward his battered old ‘mill’. 1932 C. D. MacDougall College Course in Reporting 498 Mill, typewriter. 1948 Mencken Amer. Lang. Suppl. II. 717 Writers' cramp was cured..on the advent of the mill, i.e., the typewriter. |
8. a. A pugilistic encounter between two persons.
| 1819 T. Moore Tom Crib's Memorial to Congress 36 We who're of the fancy-lay, As dead hands at a mill as they. 1825 C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 270 To cut a dash at races or a mill. 1864 [Hemyng] Eton School Days vii. 77 We are waiting to see your mill with Butler Burke. 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. ii, They who made the ring intituled the scene a ‘mill’, whilst we who must be thumped inside it tried to rejoice in their pleasantry. |
b. U.S. A circling movement of cattle. (
Cf. mill v.
1 12.)
| 1897 E. Hough Story of Cowboy 146 By shouts and blows he did all he could to break the ‘mill’ and get the cattle headed properly. 1903 A. Adams Log of Cowboy iv. 27 We soon had a mill going which kept them [sc. cattle] busy and rested our horses. 1942 E. E. Dale Cow Country 55 Those behind them would follow and a ‘mill’ would be established in which the animals would swim around and around in a circle until they drowned unless it were quickly broken up and the leaders again headed for the opposite shore. |
9. Mining.
a. An excavation in rock, transverse to the workings, from which material for filling is obtained (Webster 1897).
b. A passage underground through which ore is shot (
Ibid.).
10. slang. The engine of an aircraft or a ‘hot rod’ racing car.
| 1918 Atlantic Sept. 414 Motor is ‘moulin’—to start it, one ‘turns the mill’. 1923 G. McKnight Eng. Words & their Backgrounds 56 Tail and joystick and mill (French moulin) were names for different parts of the airship. 1937 E. C. Parsons Great Adventure vi. 60 To nurse one of the grunting old mills up to that height,..and keep it running for an hour, was in itself quite a stunt. 1948 Mencken Amer. Lang. Suppl. II. 724 There are others [sc. new terms] that remain the private property of the men working in automobile plants and of those who sell or repair cars. A few specimens; Bald-head. A worn tire... Mill. An engine [etc.]. 1954 R. F. & B. W. Yates Sport & Racing Cars ii. 24 The additional motor ‘moxie’ provided by a reground camshaft is truly amazing, and all of this without running too much risk of a cranky ‘mill’ at low idling speeds. 1954 Amer. Speech XXIX. 100 Mill,..any engine. Ibid. 97 Full mill,..an engine with all necessary speed racing accessories. 1975 B. Garfield Hopscotch xv. 152 This was an old car but it must have had a souped-up mill. |
11. attrib. and
Comb., as
mill-bag,
mill-bridge,
mill-brook,
mill-builder,
mill-burn,
mill-clack,
mill close,
mill-gearing,
mill-girl,
† mill-knave,
mill-labour,
mill-lade,
mill-lead,
mill-lord,
mill-lot,
mill-owner,
mill-process,
mill-rent,
mill-roller,
mill-room,
mill-sluice,
mill-wall,
mill-yard;
mill-cut,
mill-like mill-spun adjs.| 1832 J. P. Kennedy Swallow Barn I. xv. 155 With the large canvass *mill-bags spread out for saddles. 1851 R. Glisan Jrnl. Army Life (1874) vi. 58, I..endeavored to throw [it] in a mill-bag style over my shoulder. |
| 1833 Tennyson Poems 41, I stepped upon the old *mill-bridge. |
| 1636 Official Rec. Springfield, Mass. (1898–9) I. 159 The lotts..are ordered to lye adjoining to *Mill Brooke. 1864 T. L. Nichols 40 Yrs. Amer. Life I. ii. 20 Grist-mills which ground our corn, and saw-mills which supplied our timber, were upon a mill brook. 1866 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 171 The streams are full And millbrook-slips with pretty pace Gallop along the meadow grass. |
| 1759 Smeaton in Phil. Trans. LI. 148 All our modern *mill-builders [etc.]. |
| 1843 A. Bethune Sc. Fireside Stor. 111 The mill from which the *mill burn..sweeped nearly half round the village. |
| 1768 Ann. Reg. 73 His servant-man..carried him into the *mill-close. |
| 1925 Glasgow Herald 2 Apr. 9 To import into this country a sufficient number of *mill-cut houses to supply the shortage. |
| 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 364 The appropriate modes described under the article ‘*Mill-geering’. |
| 1856 Whittier Mary Garvin 18 O *mill-girl watching late and long the shuttles' restless play! |
| 1609 Skene Reg. Maj., Stat. Will. 3 All they quha hes milns..sall haue ane maister, and tua servants *mil-knaves. |
| 1862 Kingsley in Life (1877) II. 138 *Mill-labour effeminates the men. |
| 1868 Peard Water-farm. iv. 39 The dangers produced by *mill-lades and sluices. |
| 1609 Skene Reg. Maj., Chalm. Air c. 11 §4 Myllers..take the fry, or smolts of salmon, in the mylne dame or *lead, contrair the ordinance of the law. 1897 Daily News 21 Apr. 6/2 The water flowing in the mill-lead. |
| 1854 Poultry Chron. I. 148 The ‘*mill-like motion of the gizard’. 1918 Mrs. E. Liddell in J. Gott Lett. 66 Here is a man who, alike in the mill-like grinding of life in Leeds..and amid the urgent claims of a diocese, always found time to love and to remember. |
| 1880 Disraeli Endym. lxiii, Perhaps we shall get rid of them all some day—landlords and *mill-lords. |
| 1746 Boston News-Let. 16 Nov., Seven Acres..to be laid out to the Right of the 30 Acre *Mill-Lot, granted to Thomas Richardson. |
| 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 348 Assassins who had hired themselves..to murder *mill-owners. |
| 1854 Humphreys Coin. Brit. Emp. 113 They are exceedingly well executed by the *mill process, and have the laureated bust of the protector, with olivar. d.g. [etc.]. 1872 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 136 The ore..produces very base bullion by mill process. |
| 1894 R. S. Ferguson Hist. Westmorld. 165 Mills..still pay *mill-rents to this day. |
| 1834 M. Scott Cruise Midge xx. (1836) 332 It being part of Rory's trade to prepare *mill-rollers and other large pieces of hard-wood required for the estates below. |
| 1696 Lond. Gaz. No. 3186/4 Ordered that none but..those concerned in the Coinage, be permitted to enter the Melting-houses, *Mill-rooms [etc.]. 1833 B. Silliman Man. Sugar Cane 45 The length of the mill-room A is 64 feet. |
| 1844 Stephens Bk. Farm I. 273 The protective effects of running water, such as water-falls from *mill-sluices. |
| 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 389 *Mill-spun yarn answers better for the coarse as well as the finer fabrics. |
| 1870 Morris Earthly Par. I. i. 157 While the smooth *millwalls white and black Shook to the great wheel's measured clack. |
| 1824 New Hampsh. Hist. Soc. Coll. I. 246 A saw mill torn down and twelve thousand of boards in the *mill-yard carried away. 1936 Discovery Sept. 288/1, I saw the mill cat crossing the wall from our garden to the mill yard. 1955 J. R. R. Tolkien Return of King 296 The low wall of the mill-yard. |
12. Special Combinations, as
mill band, an endless belt for the wheels of mill machinery;
mill-banding, belting for the wheels of mill machinery;
mill-bar (iron), rough bar iron as drawn out by the puddlers' rolls;
mill-bed, the cast-iron bed of a machine for breaking flax, expressing oil, etc.;
mill-beetle, the cockroach;
mill bill, a steel adze fixed in a wooden thrift used for dressing and cracking millstones;
mill-boom, the barrier of floating timber stretched about a saw-mill to retain floating logs;
mill-brack, a rent in cloth made during the process of fulling (see
brack n.1 3);
mill-bundle (see
quot.);
mill-cake, (
a) the mass resulting from the incorporation of the ingredients in the process of manufacture of gunpowder; (
b) linseed cake (Knight
Dict. Mech. 1875);
† mill-case (see
quot. 1611);
mill-cinder, the slag from the puddling-furnace of a rolling-mill (Raymond
Mining Gloss. 1881);
mill-clack,
† (
a)
= clack 3; (
b)
Her. a representation of a mill-clack;
mill-cog, one of the cogs of the wheel on the driving shaft of a wind-mill or water-mill;
mill-course = mill-race;
mill-dog, (
a) a dog used for turning a mill; (
b) in Canada, a kind of clamp for securing logs in a saw-mill;
mill-dust, the fine floury dust thrown out during the process of grinding corn;
mill-eye, the eye or opening in the runner of a mill through which the meal escapes;
mill-fever, a form of low fever prevalent amongst the young hands in linen mills;
mill-file (see
quot. 1884);
mill finish, of paper, not subjected to any extra processing after being made;
† mill-fleam, a mill-stream;
mill-gang Warping, that part of the warp which is made by a descending and ascending course of the threads round the warping-mill (Knight
Dict. Mech. 1875);
mill-gold, ? gold obtained by stamping;
mill-hand, one employed in a mill or factory;
mill-head, (
a) that part of a horse-mill from which the driving-gear is suspended; (
b) (see
quot. 1825);
mill-head,
-headed adjs., having a milled head;
† mill-holm, a watery place about a mill-dam (Ray
N.C. Words 1674);
† mill-hoop = mill-case;
mill-hopper = hopper 3, 4;
mill-iron = ?
mill-pick or
mill-rind;
mill-jade, a mill-horse;
mill-lodge dial., a mill-pond;
mill log U.S., a log cut at a saw mill;
† mill-mail, toll paid in feudal times for grinding corn at the superior's mill;
† mill-money, money coined in the mill and press, not struck with the hammer (
cf. mill-sixpence,
-tester);
mill-moth = mill-beetle;
mill-ore Mining, metallic ore fit for stamping or crushing;
mill-pin, (
a) ?
= mill-spindle; (
b)
Her. a representation of this;
mill-pot, ? a basket contrived to capture and retain fish;
mill-power, water-power for driving a mill; also, a unit for measuring this (see
quots. 1903, 1911);
mill privilege,
right U.S., the privilege or right of using water for driving a mill;
mill-puff dial., a kind of flock used for stuffing mattresses, etc.;
mill-ream (see
quot.);
† mill-reek dial., a disease to which workers in lead-mines are subject;
mill-ring, (
a) the space in a mill between the runner and the frame surrounding it; (
b) the meal which remains about the millstones (regarded as a perquisite of the miller); (
c) the dust of a mill (
Jam.);
mill-run, (
a)
Gold-mining, the work of an amalgamating mill between two ‘clean-ups’; (
b) a mill-race; (
c)
Mining, a test of a given quantity of ore by treatment in a mill; (
d) applied to timber sawn to the usual specifications; (see also
quot. 1957); also
transf., of average or mediocre quality, ‘run-of-the-mill’; hence
mill-run v.,
Mining, to yield (a given percentage) at a mill-run;
mill-sail, the sail of a wind-mill; so
mill-sail-shaped a. (see
quot.);
mill-saw, a saw for use in a saw-mill;
mill-saw file, a file used for sharpening mill-saws;
mill-saw web, the blade of a mill-saw;
mill-scale,
Metallurgy, a deposit of iron oxide formed on iron or steel during hot working;
mill-seat, a site suitable for a water-mill;
mill-seed (see
quot.);
mill-shaft, (
a) a metal shaft used for driving machinery in a mill; (
b) the tall chimney of a mill;
mill site U.S. = mill-seat;
mill-sixpence, a sixpence coined in a mill;
mill-spindle, a vertical shaft supporting the ‘runner’ of a flour-mill;
mill-staff, an oak staff designed to test the flat face of a millstone;
mill-stank, a mill-pond;
† millstock = fulling-stock;
mill-stream, a mill-race; also
fig.;
mill tail (see
quot. 1835); also
attrib. and
fig.;
mill-tester, a tester coined in a mill;
mill-timber, ? timber that has been dressed in a saw-mill;
† mill-tooth, a grinding or molar tooth;
mill town,
village, a town or village characterized by the presence of mills;
† mill-trough, (
a) a corn-bin; (
b) a mill-race or -pond;
mill-wash, ?
= mill-tail;
mill-way, a thoroughfare leading to a mill;
mill-work, (
a) the machinery used in mills or factories; (
b) the designing or erection of the machinery in mills or factories;
mill-worker, one who works at or in a mill;
† mill-yemer, one who has the custody of a mill. Also
mill-dam,
mill-horse,
mill-house,
mill-ink, etc.
| 1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products 247/2 *Mill-band maker, a manufacturer of bands for machine shops, and for driving wheels. 1869 Bradshaw's Railway Manual XXI. App. 103 Manufacturers of..Engine Hose, Fire Buckets, Mill Bands, &c. 1957 J. Braine Room at Top ix. 86 The smells of East Warley tugging at me for attention..—malt, burning millband, frying fish. |
| 1894 Daily News 11 Dec. 7/4 Unpuncturable Canvas Lining, for *mill-banding, driving belts,..and cycle tyres. |
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 706 Passing through the remaining grooves till it comes to the square ones, where it becomes a *mill-bar. Ibid. 707 This iron called mill-bar iron, is however of too inferior a quality to be employed in any machinery. |
| 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 406 Fig. 436 represents the section of a *mill-bed. |
| 1771 J. R. Forster tr. Osbeck's Voy. I. 170 The *Mill beetles..annually come in ships from the East Indies. |
| 1631 Winthrop Let. in New Eng. (1825) I. 381 Bring..mill stones..with bracings ready cast, and rings, and *mill-bills. 1897 in Sheffield Trade List 27 Mill Picks and Bills to order. |
| 1877 Michigan Rep. XXXV. 518 Complainants had a large quantity..of timber..in their *mill-boom at East Tawas. |
| 1552 Act 5 & 6 Edw. VI, c. 6 §27 If..Cloth..prove..to be full of Holes, *Mill-bracks, or to be holely. |
| 1859 Stationer's Handbk. (ed. 2) 74 Bundle of Paper (*mill bundle), a parcel of paper tied in one bundle as it comes from the mill. |
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 629 The *mill-cake powder of Waltham Abbey is submitted to a mean theoretic pressure of 70 to 75 tons per superficial foot. |
| 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 56 The worme..which is found in a *mil-case, or where Bakers vse to boult their meale. 1611 Cotgr., Archure, a..mill-case; the open chest that holds the mill-stones. |
| 1638 Ford Fancies iii. iii, His tongue trouls like a *mill-clack. 1874 Papworth & Morant Ord. Brit. Arm. 957 Az. a millclack in fess or Mills. |
| 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 42 The Timber is useful for *Mill-coggs. |
| 1802 M. Edgeworth Rosanne iv, The neighbours all joined in restoring the water to the *mill-course. |
| 1402 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 53 But thou, as blynde Bayarde, berkest at the mone, as an olde *mylne dog when he bygynnith to dote. 1877 Lumberman's Gaz. 24 May, Parties are attempting to introduce Mill Dogs which are infringements of mine. 1880 Ibid. 28 Jan., A. Rogers..is the inventor and owner of a mill dog. |
| 1543 Traheron Vigo's Chirurg. ii. iii. 18 The place..muste be playstred with floure of barleye, and wyth *myldust. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 257 There can be little doubt, that much of the mill-dust..is derived from the powder furnished by these [mill-] stones. |
| 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 103 Measure the meale therein..just as it commeth from the *milne-eye, and afore it be temsed. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 147 To find the weight of a quantity of stone equal to the mill-eye. |
| 1889 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 30 Mar. 704/1 The disturbance of health called ‘*mill-fever’, which attacks young hands. |
| 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Mill File, a thin flat file used in machine shops for lathe work and draw filing. |
| 1907 Cross & Bevan Text-bk. Paper-Making (ed. 3) x. 270 In hand-made paper the ‘*mill-finish’ is obtained by pressing the sheets of paper one against another. 1952 E. J. Labarre Dict. Paper (ed. 2) 163/2 Mill finish is synonymous with machine finish, and merely indicates that the paper has received its finish on the paper-machine. |
| 1475–6 Durham Acc. Rolls. (Surtees) 646 Pro le scowrynge medietatis de le *myln⁓fleme. 1486–7 Ibid. 650 Operantibus super le mylnfleme. |
| 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 289 The following is the currency and gold value of *mill-gold. |
| 1865 Daily Tel. 6 Dec. 4/4 The party which would now refuse the suffrage to the *mill-hands. |
| 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. Plate xviii, The *mill-head is erected on a floor about seven or eight feet above the ground floor. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic Gloss., Mill-head, the head of water which is to turn a mill. 1865 Kingsley Herew. i, A duck put into Bourne pool would pass underground into the mill-head of the said village. |
| 1790 Roy in Phil. Trans. LXXX. 153 The insertion of a small *mill-head key, on a square pin fitted to receive it. |
| 1805 Trans. Soc. Arts XXIII. 296 By the help of the *mill-headed nut. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Archure, a *mill-hoope, or mill-case; the open chest that holds the mill-stones. |
| 1570 Levins Manip. 80/8 A *Mil-hopper, infundibulum. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. v. vi. (1872) II. 110 A stiff-backed, close-fisted old gentleman, with mill-hopper chin. |
| ? c 1343 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 543 In..ij *Milnyrenes. 1471–2 Ibid. 643 Pro factura del milniryns dictorum molendinorum. |
| 1610 B. Jonson Alch. iii. iii, Would you haue me stalke like a *mill-iade, All day, for one, that will not yeeld vs graines? |
| 1891 Jrnl. Oldham Microsc. Soc. May 101 The shades of green in our *mill-lodges are continually changing. 1891 Morn. Post 23 Dec. 3/2 A number of boys were skating on a mill lodge at Stubbins, near Bury. |
| 1795 T. B. Hazard Diary (1930) 171/2, I helpt brother Robert flote *mill logs to mill. 1849 D. Nason Jrnl. 99, I asked the guide if there were any mill-logs among it. |
| 1287 Yorks. Inquis. (Yorks. Rec. Soc.) II. 61 [In Newland] *milnemale [6d.]. |
| 1613 Fletcher, etc. Captain i. iii, Only to live to make their children scourge-sticks And hoord up *mill-money. |
| 1658 Rowland tr. Moufet's Theat. Ins. 998 There are three sorts of Blattæ; the soft Moth, the *mill Moth, and the unsavoury or stinking Moth. |
| 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 294 The *mill-ore produced has been of high grade. |
| 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cccxxv. 507 Sir George of Besmede..bare in his armes syluer, a *myllpyn gowles, a border endented gowles. |
| 1630 in Descr. Thames (1758) 66 No Fisherman..shall use..any Weel called a Lomb, or a *Mill Pot, or any other Engine, with the Head thereof against the Stream. |
| 1833 Chambers's Edinb. Jrnl. II. 167/3 This stream..at some after time may be turned to account as a *mill power. 1903 Trans. Amer. Soc. Mech. Engin. XXIV. 983 Wherever water⁓power is sold it is customary to use the turbines as meters... From tables and curves made up from..tests of..turbines,..data are obtained from which to compute the actual discharge. This is referred to a given head and thence reduced to mill-powers, the values of which vary with the locality. 1911 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 92/2 A mill-power is defined as 38 cub. ft. of water per sec. during 16 hours per day on a fall of 20 ft. This gives about 60 h.p. effective. |
| 1734 New Hampsh. Probate Rec. (1914) II. 508, I also give unto my son..the one half of my *mill Priviledge on the southerly side of ye River at Lole-End. 1892 Rep. Vermont Board Agric. XII. 134 Many mill privileges with excellent water power are afforded. |
| 1851 Catal. Gt. Exhib. II. 496 Specimens of mattress-wools, woollen *millpuffs, and flocks. 1881 Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 64 Mill Puff Maker. 1884 West. Morn. News 3 Sept. 1/2 Milpuff Pillows... Full-size Milpuff Beds. |
| 1859 Stationers' Handbk. (ed. 2) 101 A ream of writing paper..is required to contain 18 quires of 24 good sheets and 2 quires of 20 sheets of outsides,..472 sheets in all, good and bad—this is called a *mill ream. |
| 1754 J. Wilson in Ess. & Observ. Edinb. Soc. I. 459 The disease which the people at Leadhills call the *mill-reek. |
| 1794 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. III. 147 The principal object of the original settlers being lumber, more attention was paid to *mill-rights than to the soil. 1847 W. I. Paulding Antipathies iii. iii, in J. K. & W. I. Paulding Amer. Comedies 262 There's a man at Jack O'Lantern's that owns land and mill-rights. |
| 1811 G. S. Keith Agric. Surv. Aberd. 506 (Jam.) A number of the mill-masters apply the *mill-ring to the feeding of horses. 1828 Earl Richard, Queen's brother xlii. in Child Ballads II. 467 And she would meal you with millering [sic]. That she gathers at the mill. 1875 W. M{supc}Ilwraith Guide Wigtownshire 136 A workman, in making an excavation near the mill-ring, came on a large, flat stone, aneath which were the remains of a clay urn. |
| 1874 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 292 The *mill-runs have been as high as 3 oz. gold with from 30 to 60 oz. in silver. 1877 Ld. Hatherley in Law Repts., App. Cas. II. 842 What is called a mill-lade or mill-run. 1881 Chicago Times 1 June, The supply of choice mill-run lumber was generally quite limited. 1882 Rep. to Ho. Repr. Prec. Met. U.S. 306 The ore gives mill-runs of $60 to the ton. 1898 Daily News 8 Mar. 2/7 The mill-run during February has been irregular. 1928 Foy & Harlow Clowning through Life 299 He thought himself far too good for the ordinary mill run of melodramas which prevailed at that house. 1957 N.Z. Timber Jrnl. Nov. 59/2 Mill run. Usually implies all saleable output of timber from a sawmill. |
| c 1449 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 222 Wylloby. Oure *Mylle-saylle wille not abowte, Hit hath so longe goone emptye. 1835 Lindley Introd. Bot. iii. Gloss. (1839) 451 Mill-sail-shaped; having many wings projecting from a convex surface; as the fruit of some umbelliferous plants. |
| 1856 ‘Mark Twain’ Let. 14 Nov. in Adventures T. J. Snodgrass (1928) 25 Everybody was a bobbin up and down like a *mill saw. 1897 in Sheffield Trade List 15 Mill Saws, Mill Saw Webs [etc.]. Ibid., Mill Saw Files, one round edge. |
| 1880 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 357/1 During rolling this film [of oxide] becomes somewhat thick and peels off, forming ‘*mill-scale’. 1902 Brearley & Ibbotson Analysis of Steel-Works Materials vii. 229 (heading) Mill scale. 1940 Simons & Gregory Steel Manuf. xvi. 109 The charge consists of steel scrap and grey phosphoric..to which are added millscale..or iron ore, and lime or limestone. 1968 T. H. Rogers Marine Corrosion vi. 78 Steel with mill-scale either in or on the surface, when exposed to sea water, will pit very severely wherever any couple between scale and steel occurs. |
| 1770 G. Washington Diaries (1925) I. 365 Mr. Ballendine and myself leveled Doeg Run in order to fix on a *Mill Seat. 1792 Descr. Kentucky 56 The cheapness of mill seats and mill work in the United States. a 1817 T. Dwight Trav. New Eng., etc. (1821) II. 27 Directly under the bridge commences a romantic fall, which..furnishes a number of excellent mill-seats. |
| 1842 J. Aiton Domest. Econ. (1857) 194 As some of the shells still remain among the meal, they are separated from it by hand-sieves; these shells, thus separated, and having the finer particles of meal adhering to them, called *mill-seeds, are preserved for sowins. |
| 1833 J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 141 Turning very large articles, such as the outsides of cylinders, *mill-shafts, cannon, &c. 1898 Daily News 21 Nov. 8/6 We should stir ourselves, and clap the stopper on these belching mill-shafts. |
| 1831 J. M. Peck Guide for Emigrants 196 There are but few good *mill sites in the State. 1896 C. H. Shinn Story of the Mine 81 Water claims and mill sites were taken up almost as soon as work had fairly begun on the Comstock. 1956 H. Evans Mountain Dog 107 Earth and stones had been bulldozed to the water's edge to form a millsite. |
| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. i. i. 158 Seauen groates in *mill-sixpences. 1639 Mayne City Match ii. iii. 14 Had I..but forty Mark..And were that fortie Mark Mil sixpences, I would despise you. |
| 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 596/31 Molucrum, [the *mylle spyndelle]. |
| 1880 Jefferies Gt. Estate 166 He laid down the millpeck, and took his *millstaff to prove the work he had done. |
| 14.. Iter Camer. xi. in Sc. Acts (1814) I, Þai [sc. millers] tak smoltis in þe *myll stank again þe inhibicioun of law. |
| 1546 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford (1880) 182 For carege of one *myllstock for the fullyng myll. |
| c 931 in Birch Cartul Sax. II. 377 Of hlippenham in to þam *milestreame, Of þam mylestreame innan þa norð lange dic. 1794 Coleridge Parl. Oscill. 33 Both plunged together in the deep mill-stream. 1815 D. Drake Nat. View Cincinnati i. 58 In summer and autumn, it [sc. Licking River] is a moderate mill-stream. 1840 Knickerbocker XVI. 22 A wooden bridge which crossed a mill-stream. 1939 Joyce Finnegans Wake 175 But the Mountstill frowns on the Millstream while their Madsons leap his Bier. 1975 J. B. Harley O.S. Maps iii. 44 In Ordnance Survey usage the term ‘mill race’ is given to the water leading to a mill, and ‘mill stream’ to the water leaving it. |
| 1835 J. Abbott Expos. Princ. Hydraulic Engine 126 *Mill tail, the water which has passed through the wheel race; or is below the mill. 1922 Blunden Shepherd 64 No water ever ran so blithe As that same mill⁓tail stream, I'd say. 1925 ― Eng. Poems 24 Master-fish by bridges In freshened milltails leaping. 1951 E. Paul Springtime in Paris ix. 171 If the priests were right, and Busse, as a card-carrying Communist, was doomed to the foulest mill tails of hell, [etc.]. |
| 1636 Davenant Wits. i. i. B 3 b, His wives Bracelet of *Mill-Testers. |
| 1804 Naval Chron. XI. 156 Laden with mahogany and *mill-timber. |
| 1731 Arbuthnot Aliments (1735) 223 The best Instruments..for cracking of hard Substances..[are] Grinders, or *Mill-Teeth. 1890 Syd. Soc. Lex., Mill tooth, a molar tooth. |
| 1847 D. P. Thompson Locke Amsden x. 199 [The paper] came into town all damp from the press of *Mill-Town Emporium. 1902 S. E. White Blazed Trail xxi. 155 He arrived out of breath in a typical little mill town. 1925 T. Dreiser Amer. Trag. (1926) I. ii. vi. 195 He decided to remain— later sitting down to dinner with a small group of milltown store and factory employees. 1944 Reader's Digest Dec. 16/1, I used to live, years ago, in a mill town in the Deep South. |
| c 1000 Ags. Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 198/25 Canalis, þruh, vel *mylentroh. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 338/1 Mylle trow, or benge (mill troughe, or beugge, sic, P.), farricaþsa. 1530 Palsgr. 245/1 Myll troughe or broke, auge. |
| 1863 A. D. Whitney Faith Gartney's Girlhood xxiii. 218 It needs just such a man [as minister] among *mill-villages like these, he says. |
| 1861 W. Longstaffe in Siege Pontefract Castle (Surtees) Introd. 17 An old bridge over the *millwash. |
| c 1325 in Kennett Par. Ant. I. 566 Item una acra apud le *mulnewey. 1598 J. Manwood Lawes Forest xxiii. (1615) 228 If any man haue stopped or strayted any Church-way, Mill-way, or other wayes in the Forest or Purlieu..you shall do us to weet thereof. |
| 1770 G. Washington Diaries (1925) I. 381 Ball and his People went about 12 oclock to Framing the *Mill Work. 1791 W. Jessop Rep. River Witham 8 Have an increase of power for Mill-work. 1799 Hull Advert. 29 June 2/2 A colour manufactory..together with the mill-work and several utensils. 1814 R. Buchanan (title) Practical Essays on Mill Work. 1892 Daily News 12 Dec. 2/3 Machinery and millwork. |
| 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 348 An astonishing difference between their intelligence and that of the *mill⁓workers. 1895 Daily News 3 Sept. 2/4 The strike of thirty thousand millworkers in Dundee. |
| 1530 in J. Allen Hist. Liskeard (1856) 268 *Millemers and downemers. 1604–5 Ibid. 234 Le millheymers and downheymers. |
Add:
[3.] e. The part of Charles Babbage's analytical engine where arithmetic operations were performed on data. Now
Hist.| 1837 C. Babbage in B. Randell Origins Digital Computers (1973) 17 The calculating part of the engine may be divided into two portions..the Mill in which all operations are performed..[and] the Store. 1948 Proc. Symp. Large-Scale Digital Calculating Machinery 1947 (US Navy Dept. & Harvard Univ.) 93 The early designs of Babbage for an Analytical Engine involved a ‘mill’, in which the formulas were stored and the mathematical operations carried out. 1975 Nature 16 Oct. 541/2 Like a modern computer it [sc. Babbage's ‘analytical engine’] was to have a store in which numbers could be held, and a processor known as the ‘mill’ in which the arithmetic operations would be performed. |
▪ II. † mill, n.2 Obs. Also 6
myll(e,
mill(e.
[a. F. mil. Cf. mile n.2] 1. = millet1.
Turkey mill = Turkey millet.
| 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. ii. ccxxiii. [ccxix.] 697 Bredde, made of a grayne called mylle. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe (1541) 10 b, Meates inflatynge or wyndye: Beanes:..Mille: Cucumbers. 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 52 Ryse, myll, & many other thynges. 1597 Gerarde Herbal i. lv. 77 It is called..Turkie Mill or Turkie Hirsse. 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. xi. 35 Tare, Cich and Mill loue moisture. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 323 They..get Mill, Rice, Pulse, and other graine. |
b. mill-seed = millet-seed.
| 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Cenchrites, a precious stone, hauying in it thinges lyke mill seede. |
2. mill of the sun,
transl. of
mod. Latin
milium solis: see
milium1 1 b.
| 1559 Morwyng Evonym. 139 Take the rotes of fenell..mill of the sunne, scariolæ, of everye one like much. |
▪ III. † mill, n.3 Obs. [? f. mill v., or short for some comb. of mill n.1] Ground oak-bark for tanning.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §625 The Conservation of Fruit would be also tried in Vessels, filled with Fine Sand,..Or in Meal and Flower; Or in Oakwood; or in Mill. 1697 Lond. Gaz. No. 3285/4 All other Makers or Dressers of Leather in Wooze, Mill, Oyl, Salt, Allom. 1711 Ibid. No. 4862/4 Skins..to be tanned, tawed or dressed in Wooze, Mill, Alom. |
▪ IV. † mill, n.4 slang. Obs. = mill-ken.
| 1607 Dekker & Wilkins Iests to make you Merie 43 A word or two of the mill, quasi breakehouse. Ibid., A strong Iron barre made sharpe at one end, and they which trade with that are called Mils. 1676 Warning for House-Keepers (title-p.), Thieves and Robbers which go under these titles, viz. the Gilter, the Mill, the Glasier [etc.]. |
▪ V. mill, n.5 (
mɪl)
[Shortened from L. millēsimum thousandth part, on the analogy of cent. Cf. mil.] a. A money of account in the
U.S., being one-thousandth of a dollar (one-tenth of a cent).
b. A proposed coin in value the one-thousandth of a pound (to replace the farthing) in a projected system of decimal coinage for Great Britain.
An alleged sense ‘a thousandth part of anything’ appears in recent
U.S. dictionaries, but without quotations.
| 1786 in Amer. Museum (1789) II. 182 Mills, the lowest money of account, of which one thousand shall be equal to the federal dollar, or money unit. 1791 Jefferson in Harper's Mag. Mar. 535/1 At 20 cents p{supr} lb it is 8 mills per dish. 1809 Kendall Trav. I. xviii. 193 The denominations of money in the United States are dollars, cents or hundredth parts of dollars, and mills or thousandth parts. 1811 P. Kelly Univ. Cambist I. 9 A uniform way of keeping Accounts has been established in the United States (by an act of Congress in 1789) namely, in Dollars of 10 Dimes, 100 Cents, or 1000 Mills. 1821 J. Q. Adams Rep. Weights & Meas. 55 Ask a tradesman..in any of our cities what is a dime or a mille, and the chances are four in five that he will not understand your question. 1882 Scudder Noah Webster ii. 71 A premium for copyright of five mills a copy. 1896 H. W. Broughton in Westm. Rev. June CXLV. 668 Let the 1/1000 of a pound, the coin to be issued in lieu of the farthing, be called a ‘mill’, and let ten of these make a ‘victoria’. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 292/1 The denominations [of coins in Hong Kong] are the dollar and 50, 20, and 5 cents in silver, and the cent and mill in bronze. 1974 News & Reporter (Chester, S. Carolina) 24 Apr. 1–A/8 Board Chairman J. F. (Buddy) Martin told him that in 1970 the county had raised from one mill to two the amount of money that was available for the hospital from the county. |
c. attrib., as
mill tax.
| 1848 Indiana Hist. Soc. Publ. (1895-1903) III. 514 The former will pay on a mill tax $200. 1853 in Trans. Mich. Agric. Soc. (1856) VII. 293 A mill tax is annually levied to purchase books for these libraries. 1903 Scribner's Monthly Oct. 486 They support the Universities by a direct mill tax levied upon the assessed valuation of the State. |
▪ VI. mill, n.6 (
mɪl)
Also
mil.
Colloq. abbrev. of
millimetre (
esp. in
Photogr., designating a size of film).
| 1960 E. Morgan You're a Long Time Dead 386 Sandy, I'll be getting pictures of you in that outfit, don't worry, as good as anyone can take—Best Man, What, on 35 mill? 1971 Guardian 25 Oct. 8/3 ‘Is it videotape or 35 mill?’ she asks. 1974 S. Gulliver Vulcan Bulletins 26 ‘What do you want?’ ‘Eighty-one mil. mortar bombs.’ |
▪ VII. mill, v.1 (
mɪl)
Also 6
myll,
mil.
[f. mill n.1] I. trans. To subject to the operation of a mill.
1. To pass (cloth or other material) through a fulling-mill; to thicken (cloth, etc.) by fulling.
| 1552 Act 5 & 6 Edw. VI, c. 6 §1 And beinge well scowred, thicked, mylled, and fully dried, everie yarde of everie suche Clothe shall waye thre pound at the leste. 1633 Proclam. in Rymer Foedera XIX. 447/2 All such white Worcester Clothes..as shall be milled in Gloucestershire. 1706 Boyer Ann. Q. Anne IV. 27 All broad-cloaths..after the same are fully mill'd and furnish'd. 1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. iii. 103 The cloth..is then ‘milled’, ‘fulled’, or ‘felted’, that is, beaten until the fibres of the wool become so locked into each other [etc.]. |
| transf. 1902 Brit. Med. Jrnl. No. 2146. 378, It [sc. the folded ‘form’] is then ‘milled’ or pounded with heavy oak hammers. |
2. a. To grind (corn) in a mill; to produce (flour) by grinding.
Chiefly in
pass., used in market reports and the like.
| 1570 Levins Manip. 123/31 To Mil, molere. 1830 Kyle Farm Rep. 47 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, The grain thrashed is set down on one side,..and, when milled, the meal is entered separately. 1902 Q. Rev. July 327 By Lord Stanley's Act of 1843 a certain advantage was given to flour milled in Canada. |
b. To pound or powder (tobacco).
| 1782 Cowper To Rev. W. Bull 38 This oval box, well filled With best tobacco finely milled. 1887 Blackmore Springhaven xxvi, Shaving with his girdle-knife a cake of rich tobacco, and then milling it complacently betwixt his horny palms. |
c. To hull seeds by means of a mill. Also
intr., to undergo hulling or milling.
| 1863 Buckman in Gard. Chron. 23 May 493 The best plan..to pursue is to mill the Sainfoin seed, in which case its outer covering is removed. Ibid., The Burnet..will not mill, but simply gets its wings broken off. |
d. Porcelain manufacture.
| 1875 Fortnum Maiolica v. 4 The vitreous substance..being milled with water to the consistency of cream. |
e. Soap manufacture.
| 1902 Chambers's Jrnl. Apr. 204/1 When quite hard, this fine soap is milled, or cut into very small shreds, after which it is pressed in moulds into fancy shapes. 1967 Everyman's Encycl. XI. 271/2 The chips are transferred to a mixer where the dyes and perfumes are added, which are then milled to make the soap plastic and homogeneous. |
f. slang. To send to the treadmill; to send to prison (
cf. mill n.1 6).
| 1838 Dickens O. Twist II. xxv. 83, I shouldn't have been milled if it hadn't been for her advice. But..what's six weeks of it? |
3. To roll (metal); to flatten (metal) under a roller or beater.
| 1677 [see milled ppl. a. 4]. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 60 When this way of Milling Lead for Sheathing of Ships was first invented. |
4. a. To stamp (coins) by means of the mill and press (see
mill n.1 3 b).
| 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 89 They [sc. coins] are stamped (as all the rest of their money) with the hammer, and not milled. |
b. To flute the edge of (a coin or any piece of flat metal); to produce uniform or regular markings upon the edge of (a coin).
| 1724 Swift Drapier's Lett. iii. Wks. 1751 VIII. 329, I find the Half-pence were milled; which..is of great Use to prevent Counterfeits. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxii. IV. 805 The new crowns and half-crowns, broad, heavy and sharply milled, were ringing on all the counters. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1441/1 Castaining's machine for milling coin was introduced into the French mint in 1685. 1889 Science 20 Dec. 414 These bearings are conical, and milled through. |
5. To beat or whip (chocolate, etc.) to a froth.
to mill up, to beat together. Also
fig.| 1662 H. Stubbe Indian Nectar ii. 9 They dissolved it [sc. chocolata] (being pouder'd) and milled it, tempering it by little and little with water in an Indian cup. 1747 H. Glasse Cookery xvi. (1767) 290 Mill the cream till it is all of a thick froth. Ibid., Then..over that whip your froth which you saved off the cream very well milled up. 1764 E. Moxon Eng. Housew. (ed. 9) 116 Take four ounces of chocolate,..and boil it in a pint of cream, then mill it..with a chocolate stick. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 207 Mill them with a chocolate mill, to raise the froth, and take it off with a spoon as it rises. 1829 Landor Imag. Conv. Wks. 1853 II. 83/2 A chaplain milling an egg-posset over the fire. 1859 Dickens T. Two Cities ii. vii, A second milled and frothed the chocolate. 1897 Kipling Capt. Cour. vii. 142 Graaa—ouch! went the conch, while sea and sky were all milled up in milky fog. |
| fig. 1817 Coleridge Satyrane's Lett. i. in Biog. Lit., etc. (1882) 245 What Pericles would not do to save a friend's life, you may be assured I would not hazard merely to mill the chocolate-pot of a drunken fool's vanity. |
6. To throw, as undyed silk.
| 1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. v. 151 Directions were also drawn up for..grassing, milling, and hand-scutching the flax. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Mill..to throw undyed silk. |
7. To tumble (leather) within a wheel or cylinder containing some softening or tanning liquid.
| 1885 C. T. Davis Manuf. Leather xxvii. (1897) 415 Then they [sc. the sides] are put into a pin-wheel and milled for ten minutes. |
8. To cut (metal) with a milling-tool.
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Mill..a machine designed for milling where only a light or medium cut is required. 1884 Ibid. 607/1 By means of the swinging sleeve true circles of greater or less diameter can be milled on the face of the work. |
9. To saw (timber) in a saw-mill.
| 18.. Art Age IV. 46 (Cent.), Lumbermen charge the consumer for the full measurement of the boards [for floors] before they are milled. |
10. Mining.
a. To crush or pound into fragments; to grind to powder.
| 1883 Standard 20 Jan. 1/5 The whole of the quartz removed has been milled. 1895 Times 19 Feb. 3/6 For the year 1894 there was milled 2,827,365 tons. |
b. To yield under the process of crushing or grinding.
| 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 247 The quartz..will mill about $20 to the ton. 1897 Westm. Gaz. 19 Oct. 8/3, I would not like to say that it will mill that. It will certainly mill 1 oz. |
II. 11. slang. a. To beat, strike, thrash; to fight, overcome; to smash, break, break open. Also
intr. or absol. to box;
occas. with
away.
| c 1700 Street Robberies Consider'd, Mill, to beat. 1753 Discov. J. Poulter (ed. 2) 39 Mill the Cull to his long Libb; kill the Man dead... Mill the Quod; break the Gaol. Ibid. 40 Mill his Nobb; break his Head. 1810 Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 231 The Black..threatens to mill the whole race of fighters of the day. 1825 C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 282 Milling the glaze. 1840 Thackeray Cox's Diary Wks. 1900 III. 223 Tug..milled away—one, two, right and left,—like a little hero as he is. 1864 [Hemyng] Eton School Days vii. 75 Butler Burke was going to mill Chorley. Ibid. 77 Are you going to mill, or are you not? |
b. to mill doll,
mill dolly: to beat hemp or flax as a prison occupation.
Cf. mill-doll n.| 1714 A. Smith Highwaymen (ed. 2) I. 141 Having been often punisht at hard Labour in Bridewell, which beating of Hemp the Thieves call Mill dolly. 1733 Budgell Bee iv. 477 Then mill on dear Polly,..The Hemp thou art beating may hang him to-Morrow. 1780 R. Tomlinson Slang Past. vi. 7 When sitting with Nancy, what sights have I seen!..But now she mills doll. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue. |
III. To go round like a mill.
12. a. intr. Of cattle: To keep moving round and round in a mass; also, to move in a circle. Also
transf. (of persons, vehicles, etc.) and
fig.| 1888 T. Roosevelt in Century Mag. Apr. 862/1 The cattle may begin to run, and then get ‘milling’—that is, all crowd together into a mass like a ball, wherein they move round and round. 1895 Kipling 2nd Jungle Bk. 79 The deer and the pig and the nilghai were milling round and round in a circle of eight or ten miles' radius. 1910 W. M. Raine Bucky O'Connor 227, I expect you were able to make out, even if I did get the letters to milling around wrong. 1911 H. Quick Yellowstone Nights v. 127 The main thing the matter was that failure o' his a-millin' through his mental facilities. 1919 L. F. Cody Memories Buffalo Bill 302 Indians and soldiers milled, the Indians fighting with their knives, the soldiers with their guns. 1927 H. E. Fosdick Pilgrimage to Palestine 262 We look down upon the throng milling around the Chapel of the Sepulcher. 1935 Punch 29 May 648/2 The sergeants are milling round like madmen with last-minute instructions. 1957 J. Kerouac On Road (1958) v. 33 First we milled with all the cowboy-dudded tourists..at bars. 1968 R. M. Patterson Finlay's River iii. 164 To follow their wanderings in detail would be pointless. They milled around like that for the next two days, obsessed with this ridge-climbing idea. |
b. trans. To cause to ‘mill’ or mass in a circle.
| 1901 Munsey's Mag. XXV. 406/2 At last the cattle..ran with less energy, and it was presently easy to ‘mill’ them into a circle and to turn them where it seemed most desirable. |
c. fig. To turn
over in one's mind.
| 1905 Smart Set Oct. 17/1 No,..I ain't buyin' no dishes. I was just kind o' millin' things over to myself. 1923 R. D. Paine Comrades of Rolling Ocean xvii. 298 Judson, on guard in the cabin, was milling this problem over. 1958 ‘A. Gilbert’ Death against Clock viii. 111 Barney's milled it over and over..and we can't think of any reason. 1964 M. Gowing Britain & Atomic Energy ix. 250 Nor did they [sc. the American engineers] want to spend much time in milling over alternative approaches to problems for which they had chosen..their own solution. |
13. intr. Of a whale.
| 1840 F. D. Bennett Whaling Voy. II. 221 A whale ‘milled’, or turned suddenly round, upon receiving the harpoons. 1874 C. M. Scammon Marine Animals 311 Gloss., Mill, to turn in an opposite direction, or nearly so; as, ‘The whale was running to windward, but {oqq}milled{cqq}, and ran to leeward’. |
▪ VIII. mill, v.2 slang. (
mɪl)
[Possibly a use of prec.: cf. mill v.1 11.] trans. Orig. in phrase
to mill a ken, to rob a house. Later, to steal.
| 1567 Harman Caveat 84 To myll a Ken, to robbe a house. 1609 Dekker Lanth. & Candle Lt. ciij b, If we niggle or mill a bowsing ken. 1621 B. Jonson Gipsies Metamorph. (1640) II. 65 Can they Cant, or Mill? are they masters of their Arts? a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Mill. to Steal, Rob, or Kill. 1753 Discov. J. Poulter (ed. 2) 10 When we went a Milling that Swagg, that is, a Breaking open that Shop. 1811 Sporting Mag. XXXVII. 13 He had milled my wipe. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxx, One might have milled the Bank of England, and less noise about it. |
▪ IX. mill obs. form of
mil.