Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK Und.) to steal, to rob, to break open; thus mill a ken ; mill a go, to succeed in a robbery or theft; mill a quod, to break out of prison; milling n., goods worth stealing.

c.1566		implied in mill a ken
1592		Groundworke of Conny-catching n.p.: Yonder dwelleth a quier cuffen it were beneshp to mill him.
1611		Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girle V i: We mill in deuse a vile.
1622		Beaumont & Fletcher Beggar’s Bush III iv: To maund on the pad, and strike all the cheats, / To mill from the Ruffmans, Commission and slates.
1639		J. Taylor Crabtree Lectures 191: Mort. [R]ather then want Rum-peck, or Beane boose, mill the Cacklers, coy the Quack, or Duds.
1648		Dekker ‘Canters Dict.’ Eng. Villainies (9th edn).
1651		T. Randolph Hey for Honesty III i: Darkmans for pannum Should the grand Ruffian come to mill me, I Would scorn to shuffle from my poverty.
1669		A Perfect Narrative of the Robbery [etc] 38: That these kind of persons are reported to have a Canting Language amongst themselves; as when they say take Coach, is meant cut a Throat; take Horse, take a Purse; Mill a Gruntling, steal a Pigg, &c.
1674		Head Canting Academy (1674) .
1688		R. Holme Academy of Armory Ch. iii item 68c: Canting Terms used by Beggars, Vagabonds, Cheaters, Cripples and Bedlams. [...] To Mill, to Steal.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew.
1728		J. Dalton Narrative of Street-Robberies 9: They follow’d her a considerable Way before they could agree who should Mill her.
1752		N.Y. Gazette Revived 27 Nov. 2/5: Roach told Kennedy he had mill’d a Pocket-Book, and would have him go along to see what was in it.
1753		J. Poulter Discoveries (1774) 14: We left our Horses in Mount Pleasant, while we went a milling that Swag, i.e., breaking open that Shop. [Ibid.] 43: Mill the Quod; break the Gaol.
1788		‘Rolling Blossom’ in Festival of Anacreon in Wardroper Lovers, Rakers and Rogues (1995) 180: To Scamping Sam I gave my hand, / Who milled the blunt and tatlers.
c.1790		‘De Kilmainham Minit’ Luke Caffrey’s Gost 6: And when dat he mill’d a fat slap, / He me-ri-ly melted de winner, / To snack wid de boys of de Pad* [*footnote: The last Line of every Verse is to be spoken in the Newgate Style].
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1818		W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian (1883) 309: Rat me, one might have milled the Bank of England, and less noise about it.
1822		Life and Trial of James Mackcoull 5: Mackcoull returned [...] without attempting to queer a stilt, draw a tatler, or mill a wipe.
1840		‘The St Giles’s Flash Man’ in Facetious Songster in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) III 250: She pick’d up the fla’s as they passed by, / And I mill’d their wipes from their side clye.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 62: Ancient cant, myll, to rob.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. [as cit. 1859].
1871–82		B.M. Carew Life and Adventures.
1889		Clarkson & Richardson Police! 346: Good ‘milling,’ i.e. shirts, stockings, silk ‘wipes’ etc., are switched off the line.

2. to smash, to break open, to spoil.

1610		Rowlands Martin Mark-all 39: Ile myll your maund Ile spoyle your begging.
1612		Dekker O per se O L3: Another, Mills a Crackmans, breaks a hedge, and that wood heates the Oven.
1703		Hell Upon Earth 5: Mill, a Chizel, or to break.
1708		J. Hall Memoirs (1714) 13: Mill, [...] to break.
1753		J. Poulter Discoveries (1774) 43: Mill his Nobb; break his Head.
c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Mill [...] to break. Cant.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant n.p.: Mill his nobb break his head.
1821		‘An Amateur’ Real Life in London I 181: I’m the boy for a bit of bobbery, / Nabbing a lantern, or milling a pane.

3. to thrash, to fight, to overcome; to hit.

1612		Dekker ‘Canting Song’ O per se O O2: A canniken, mill quier Cuffin, so quier to ben coues watch.
1728		Defoe Street Robberies Considered 33: Mill, to beat.
1732		Harlot’s Progress 39: This said, to shew his Power, he mill’d her, / ’Till Envy, Grief, and Shame had fill’d her.
1741		Canting Academy, or the Pedlar’s-French Dict. 116: The Devil break your Neck The Ruffin mill your Nob.
1748		Dyche & Pardon New General Eng. Dict. (5th edn).
1754		G. Stevens ‘A Cant Song’ Muses Delight 177: While I mill’d his mazzard she snaffl’d his poll.
1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 176: Now is your time to go and mill him / But if you can, I’d have you kill him.
1786		Whole Art of Thieving.
1790		‘The Bowman Prigg’s Farewell’ in Wardroper (1995) 284: We will mill all the culls with our fibs / And teach them a new morris-dance, sir.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1810		‘A New Song Called The Mill’ in Holloway & Black II (1979) 251: He’s come to mill our champion Cribb.
1819		‘One of the Fancy’ Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress xxviii: Thus, to mill, which was originally ‘to rob,’ is now ‘to beat or fight;’ [...] To mill, however, sometimes signified ‘to kill.’ Thus, to mill ableating cheat, i.e. to kill a sheep.
1822		‘Life in London’ in C. Hindley James Catnach (1878) 131: Mill the Charlies — oh! what fun.
1826		‘Nimrod’ in Malet Annals of the Road (1876) 310: [of a kicking horse] [A]s the winkers were hanging down, she had begun to mill the coach which she saw behind her.
1833		‘The Coalheaver’s Feast’ Fun Alive O! 61: Pulling and tearing, / Tugging and swearing, / Milling away at the Coalheaver’s feast.
1841		‘A Week’s Matrimony’ Dublin Comic Songster 292: Then with tongs she broke my head, / So I went at her left and right, / And we milled each other by Wednesday night.
1842		Bell’s Penny Dispatch 27 Mar. 3/3: The [...] grew wild, and I thought we should have to mill him.
1848		‘Ned Buntline’ Mysteries and Miseries of N.Y. III 57: Vot hever you says, is, [...] but I’d just give a mug o’ yale to mill that one-eyed buffer.
1858		G. Thompson Gay Girls of N.Y. 13: Two dashing courtezans, actuated by jealousy, are ‘milling’ each other.
1864		B. Hemyng Eton School Days 70: Although you are bigger than me, I am not afraid to mill you.
1870		(ref. to 1820s) Glasgow Eve. Citizen 2 July n.p.: We are not sure that [...] we should have much to boast of if the constrast were drawn between, say, street rows and milling a charley.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Mar. 14/3: The big ’un, though short of condition, stuck to his work in manly style, but [...] he spoiled by all through making play, and allowing the little one, who was in tip-top condition, to draw him out and mill on the retreat.
1888		Kipling ‘The Madness of Private Ortheris’ in Plain Tales from the Hills (1890) 273: I’m too little for to mill you, Mulvaney.
1897		A.H. Lewis Wolfville 139: Stay within whoopin’ distance, though; so if he tries to stampede or takes to millin’ I can get he’p.
1913		A. Lunn Harrovians 232: That melodramatic little Jew wants to mill me.
1927		(con. 1835–40) P. Herring Bold Bendigo 15: My brother would have milled you with the mawlies. It was only the gloves saved you.
1953		F. Paley Rumble on the Docks (1955) 89: The Diggers and the Stompers were now milling.
c.1968		‘Old Zebra Dun’ in G. Logsdon Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing (1995) 81: When the herd stampeded he was Johnnie on the spot, / He could mill a thousand longhorns as easy as you could turn a pot.
1998		J. O’Connor Salesman 93: We milled him.
2001		G. Coughlan Everyday Eng. and Sl. 🌐 Millie up! (phr): a fight going to start. Milling (v): fighting.

4. to kill, to murder.

1612		Dekker O per se O L2: They are sworne neuer to disclose their skill in Canting to any Householder for, if they do, the other Maunderers or Roagues Mill them (kill them).
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew.
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: Mill, signifies also to [...] kill.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725].
1753		J. Poulter Discoveries (1774) 42: Mill the Cull to his Long Libb; kill the Man dead.
1786		J. Poulter Whole Art of Thieving Discovered [as cit. 1753].
1799		‘Cant Lang. of Thieves’ Monthly Mag. 7 Jan. n.p.: Mill the Cull to his long lib Kill the Man you rob.
1811		J. Poole Hamlet Travestie III iii: O, let me catch him, and I’ll sweetly mill him.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1906		A. McCormick Tinkler-Gypsies of Galloway 104: The following words appear to be still in use in one form or another amongst Galwegian tinkler-gypsies – Millin’ in the darkmans – Murder by night.

5. to consume.

1741

Canting Academy, or the Pedlar’s-French Dict. n.p.: Wapping and Busing mills all the Lowyer Whoring & drinking consumes all the Money.