'To go through the mill' definitions:

Definition of 'To go through the mill'

From: GCIDE
  • Mill \Mill\, n. [OE. mille, melle, mulle, milne, AS. myln, mylen; akin to D. molen, G. m["u]hle, OHG. mul[imac], mul[imac]n, Icel. mylna; all prob. from L. molina, fr. mola millstone; prop., that which grinds, akin to molere to grind, Goth. malan, G. mahlen, and to E. meal. [root]108. See Meal flour, and cf. Moline.] [1913 Webster]
  • 1. A machine for grinding or comminuting any substance, as grain, by rubbing and crushing it between two hard, rough, or indented surfaces; as, a gristmill, a coffee mill; a bone mill. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. A machine used for expelling the juice, sap, etc., from vegetable tissues by pressure, or by pressure in combination with a grinding, or cutting process; as, a cider mill; a cane mill. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. A machine for grinding and polishing; as, a lapidary mill. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. A common name for various machines which produce a manufactured product, or change the form of a raw material by the continuous repetition of some simple action; as, a sawmill; a stamping mill, etc. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. A building or collection of buildings with machinery by which the processes of manufacturing are carried on; as, a cotton mill; a powder mill; a rolling mill. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. (Die Sinking) A hardened steel roller having a design in relief, used for imprinting a reversed copy of the design in a softer metal, as copper. [1913 Webster]
  • 7. (Mining) (a) An excavation in rock, transverse to the workings, from which material for filling is obtained. (b) A passage underground through which ore is shot. [1913 Webster]
  • 8. A milling cutter. See Illust. under Milling. [1913 Webster]
  • 9. A pugilistic encounter. [Cant] --R. D. Blackmore. [1913 Webster]
  • 10. Short for Treadmill. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  • 11. The raised or ridged edge or surface made in milling anything, as a coin or screw. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  • 12. A building or complex of buildings containing a mill[1] or other machinery to grind grains into flour. [PJC]
  • Edge mill, Flint mill, etc. See under Edge, Flint, etc.
  • Mill bar (Iron Works), a rough bar rolled or drawn directly from a bloom or puddle bar for conversion into merchant iron in the mill.
  • Mill cinder, slag from a puddling furnace.
  • Mill head, the head of water employed to turn the wheel of a mill.
  • Mill pick, a pick for dressing millstones.
  • Mill pond, a pond that supplies the water for a mill.
  • Mill race, the canal in which water is conveyed to a mill wheel, or the current of water which drives the wheel.
  • Mill tail, the water which flows from a mill wheel after turning it, or the channel in which the water flows.
  • Mill tooth, a grinder or molar tooth.
  • Mill wheel, the water wheel that drives the machinery of a mill.
  • Gin mill, a tavern; a bar; a saloon; especially, a cheap or seedy establishment that serves liquor by the drink.
  • Roller mill, a mill in which flour or meal is made by crushing grain between rollers.
  • Stamp mill (Mining), a mill in which ore is crushed by stamps.
  • To go through the mill, to experience the suffering or discipline necessary to bring one to a certain degree of knowledge or skill, or to a certain mental state. [1913 Webster]