mull

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /mʌl/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌl

Etymology 1

Related to mill (“to grind”).

Verb

mull (third-person singular simple present mulls, present participle mulling, simple past and past participle mulled)

1. (usually with over) To work (over) mentally; to cogitate; to ruminate.

   to mull a thought or a problem

   he paused to mull over his various options before making a decision

   • 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 5, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, 1914 June, →OCLC:

     It was the germ of a thought, which, however, was destined to mull around in his conscious and subconscious mind until it resulted in magnificent achievement.

   • 2021 February 2, Katharine Murphy, The Guardian‎:

     When Morrison mulls the pluses and minuses associated with rebuking Kelly for undermining the government’s public health messaging, the prime minister faces a genuine substantive dilemma, and that goes to the risks of amplification.

2. To powder; to pulverize.
3. To chop marijuana so that it becomes a smokable form.
4. To heat and spice something, such as wine.
5. To join two or more individual windows at mullions.
6. To dull or stupefy.

Derived terms

• mull over
• mulled wine, mulled cider

Translations

Noun

mull (countable and uncountable, plural mulls)

1. (uncountable) Marijuana that has been chopped to prepare it for smoking.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:marijuana

2. A stew of meat, broth, milk, butter, vegetables, and seasonings, thickened with soda crackers.
3. The gauze used in bookbinding to adhere a text block to a book's cover.
4. An inferior kind of madder prepared from the smaller roots or the peelings and refuse of the larger.
5. (slang, archaic) A mess of something; a mistake.
   • 1904, Parliamentary Debates, New Zealand. Parliament. House of Representatives, page 83:

     Mr. HERDMAN. — The honourable member for Nelson says they made a mull of it. If the honourable gentleman had been a financial authority he would never have given expression to such a thought.

   • 2014, Andrea Pickens, A Stroke of Luck

     After studying the page a bit longer, she made a face. "Good Lord, you've really made a mull of it. Here, let me have a closer look."

Translations

Etymology 2

Shortened from mulmul.

Noun

mull (countable and uncountable, plural mulls)

1. A thin, soft muslin.
   • 1891, United States. Department of the Treasury, Synopsis of the Decisions of the Treasury Department on the Construction of the Tariff, Navigation, and Other Laws for the Year Ended ..., page 631:

     The merchandise in this case consists of Madras mulls — thin cotton cloth.

   • 1916, “Smocking”, in The Dressmaker: A Complete Book on All Matters Connected with Sewing and Dressmaking , 2nd revised and enlarged edition, New York, N.Y., London: The Butterick Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 29:

     Smocking done in colors on fine white batiste, silk mull, or nainsook makes pretty guimpes and dresses for children and very smart blouses for women.

Descendants

• → German: Mull
• → Norwegian Bokmål: moll

Translations

Etymology 3

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Mull (geographical term)

Wikipedia

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

mull (plural mulls)

1. (Scotland) A promontory.

   the Mull of Kintyre

2. A snuffbox made of the small end of a horn.

Etymology 4

From Middle English molle (“rubbish”), from Middle French mol or its etymon Latin mollis.

Noun

mull (uncountable)

1. dirt; rubbish

Middle English

Noun

mull

1. Alternative form of molle (“rubbish”)
   • c. 1386–1390, John Gower, edited by Reinhold Pauli, Confessio Amantis of John Gower: Edited and Collated with the Best Manuscripts, volumes (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Bell and Daldy , published 1857, →OCLC:

     That other cofre of straw and mull

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Scots

Noun

mull (plural mulls)

1. headland

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse mold, from Proto-Germanic *muldō (“dirt, soil”). Cognate with Icelandic mold, German Mull, Dutch moude and Gothic 𐌼𐌿𐌻𐌳𐌰 (mulda).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɵl/

Noun

mull c

1. mold (loose soil), earth

   Synonym: mylla

2. dust

Declension

References

• mull in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• mull in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)