Meanings
- Applied to a person who speaks more loudly than necessary.
Were you born in a mill, curtole? you prate so hye.
1578, George Whetstone, Promos and Cassandra, quoted in 1965, Burton Egbert Stevenson, The Macmillan Book of Proverbs, Maxims, and Famous Phrases (page 497)2 more examples
Hence among the vulgar, when you speak to them with too loud a voice, they tell you "that they were not born in a mill."
1981, Benjamin Rush, Eric T. Carlson, Jeffrey L. Wollock, Benjamin Rush's Lectures on the Mind, page 345Admonished that she should “keep the woman's virtue and be more silent,” she countered “that she was 'born in a mill, begot in a kill, she must have her will,' she could speak no softlier.”
2015, Kirilka Stavreva, Words Like Daggers, page 77
Origin
The loud machinery in a mill may necessitate raising one's voice to be heard.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
born in a mill. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/born%20in%20a%20mill
“born in a mill.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/born%20in%20a%20mill. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “born in a mill,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/born%20in%20a%20mill.
Source: born in a mill on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.