Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
through the mill en · ADJ
Pronunciation
Meanings
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(idiomatic, not-comparable) Through a period of bad treatment or an ordeal.
My father found me a nuisance, and put me through the mill, and I can never forget it particularly the evenings.
1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part II, XVIii [Uniform ed., p. 192]put through the mill
‘He’s been through the mill, this one,’ she said.
1999, J. K. Rowling, chapter 4, in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Bloomsbury: