Verb. (pugilistic).—1. To fight; to pummel; to kill: see quot. 1748. To
mill the nob = to punch the head.
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Mill ... in the Canting
Language, means to beat, thresh, maul, or kill a person.
1785, Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1818. P. Egan, Boxiana, i. 10. When his Lordship, instead of
redressing, set about milling him for his insolence.
1840. Thackeray, Shabby Genteel Story, viii. He had milled a
policeman.
1840. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (The Ghost). Boxing may be a very
pretty Fancy, When Messrs. Burke or Bendigo engage:—’Tis not so
well in Susan, Jane, or Nancy:—To get well mill’d by any one’s an
evil, But by a lady—’tis the very Devil.
1864. Eton School Days, iii. 38. Science, you know, is better than
brute force, and although Chorley is older and bigger than me, if I
knew how to mill I wouldn’t stand still to be licked.
2. (old).—To rob. Also to break or force. Mill-lay (Grose, 1785) =
burglary.
1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), p. 86. Yonder dwelleth a quyere
cuffen, it were beneship to myll him.
1598. Stow, Survey of London (ed. 1754, vol. ii. p. 543). Add one
phrase more in those times used among this sort, mylken, which is
to commit a robbery, or Burghlary in the night in a dwelling house.
1609. Dekker, Lanthorne & Candlelight [Grosart, iii. p. 203], ‘The
Beggar’s Curse.’ The Ruffin cly the ghost of the Harman-beck.... If
we niggle or mill but a poor Boozing-ken.... Straight we’re to the
Cuffin Queer forced to bing.
1611. Middleton and Dekker, Roaring Girl, v. 1. A gage of ben
Rom-bouse ... is benar than a Caster, Peck, pennam, lay, or popler,
Which we mill in deause-a-vile.
1621. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed. Can they cant or mill? Are
they masters in their art?
1622–65. Head and Kirkman, English Rogue, ‘Bing out, bien Morts.’
To mill each ken let cove bing then Thro’ Ruffmans, Jague, or
Laund.
1661. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, v. 1. Tell us If it be milling of a
lag of duds, The fetching-off a buck of clothes, or so?
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.
1712. T. Shirley, Triumph of Wit, ‘The Maunder’s Praise of His
Strowling 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.