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.’