mull

present singular third person mulls · participle present mulling · participle past mulled · past mulled

1. usuallyTo work (over) mentally; to cogitate; to ruminate.

   to mull a thought or a problem

   4 more examples

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

   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.

   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[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, June 1914, →OCLC

   But here’s a thought I had as you were speaking just now, and I’m mulling it over.

   2010, Plato, “Euthyphro”, in Christopher Rowe, transl., The Last Days of Socrates, Penguin Books Ltd., →ISBN, line 9c

   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.

   2021 February 2, Katharine Murphy, “Scott Morrison must heed the lesson of Donald Trump and slap down Craig Kelly”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 27 Apr 2021

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.
7. archaicslangTo bungle or botch.

   1 more example

   'That's rather like another plant where a string of pearls was changed some years ago,' volunteered Greatorex, laying aside the paper in favour of his own reminiscences. […] 'Yes; they mulled that by not copying the sale label closely enough, and the attendant noticed it when the necklace was laid down again. […]'

   1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries

plural mulls

1. uncountableMarijuana that has been chopped to prepare it for smoking.

   Synonyms: bhang, benj, boo, broccoli, bud, buddha, cannabis, cheeba

2. countableuncountableA stew of meat, broth, milk, butter, vegetables, and seasonings, thickened with soda crackers.
3. countableuncountableThe gauze used in bookbinding to adhere a text block to a book's cover.
4. countableuncountableAn inferior kind of madder prepared from the smaller roots or the peelings and refuse of the larger.
5. archaiccountableslanguncountableA mess of something; a mistake.

   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."

   1 more example

   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.

   1904, Parliamentary Debates, New Zealand. Parliament. House of Representatives, page 83

6. Northern EnglandcountabledialectaluncountableDirt, dust, or other waste matter.

plural mulls

1. countableuncountableA thin, soft muslin.

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

   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

   1 more example

   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.

   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

plural mulls

1. ScotlandA promontory.

   the Mull of Kintyre

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

   1 more example

   Charles Dickens quoted in 1872, John Forster, The Life of Charles Dickens Much in this manner they exhibit at the door of a snuff-shop the effigy of a Highlander with an empty mull in his hand, who, apparently having taken all the snuff he can carry, and discharged all the sneezes of which he is capable, politely invites his friends and patrons to step in and try what they can do in the same line.

plural mulls

1. countableuncountableFriable forest humus that forms a layer of mixed organic matter and mineral soil and merges gradually into the mineral soil beneath.

1. An island, the second largest in the Inner Hebrides, in Argyll and Bute council area, Scotland.

plural Mulls

1. obsoleteslangA member of the Service belonging to the Madras Presidency.

   [R]esidents of Bengal, Bombay, and Madras are, in Eastern parlance, designated 'Qui Hies,' 'Ducks,' and 'Mulls.'

   1852, Notes and Queries (1st ser. v. 165)

   2 more examples

   The Mulls have been excited also by another occurrence […] affecting rather the trading than fashionable world.

   1837, Asiatic Journal, page 251

   […] but the glorious days, when "Qui-hyes" and "Mulls" used to be pitted against each other for first spear, have vanished, […]

   1844, The New Sporting Magazine, volume 8, page 394