mull

See also: Mull, múll, Müll, and müll

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /mʌl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (gulf-golf merger) IPA^(key): /mɑl/
• Homophone: mall (gulf-golf merger)
• Rhymes: -ʌl
• Hyphenation: mull

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle English molle, mulle (“dust, rubbish”), possibly from Old English myl (“dust, mould”), from Proto-West Germanic *muli, a deverbal formation from *mulljan and thus cognate with Dutch mul (“dust, mould”), German Müll (“rubbish”), Swedish moln (“cloud”) and related to English mill (“to grind”). Alternatively, from Middle French mol or its etymon Latin mollis (“soft”).

Some verbal senses are supplied by Middle English mollen (“to soften, dissolve”), from Old French moillier, from Latin *molliāre (“to steep”), itself from mollis; compare moil.

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

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

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

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

     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

• mulled wine, mulled cider
• muller
• mull over
• unmulled

Translations

to work over mentally

• Bulgarian: обмислям (bg) (obmisljam)
• Catalan: rumiar (ca), sopesar
• Czech: rozvažovat impf, zvažovat (cs) impf, přemítat (cs) impf, dumat (cs) impf
• Danish: overveje, gennemtænke
• Dutch: overwegen (nl), overdenken (nl)
• Finnish: miettiä (fi), pohtia (fi), pohdiskella (fi)
• French: réfléchir (fr), considérer (fr), ruminer (fr), gamberger (fr) (colloquial)
• German: erwägen (de), grübeln (de)
• Hungarian: latolgat (hu), töpreng (hu)
• Indonesian: mempertimbangkan (id), memikirkan (id)
• Latin: (use in + abl for object) aestuare
• Portuguese: cogitar (pt), ponderar (pt)
• Quechua: yarpay
• Russian: размышля́ть (ru) (razmyšljátʹ), обду́мывать (ru) (obdúmyvatʹ)
• Spanish: rumiar (es) (colloquial)

to chop marijuana so that it becomes a smokable form

• Catalan: picar (ca)
• Spanish: picar (es)

to heat and spice something, such as wine

• Catalan: encalentir (ca), espiciar
• Czech: svařit pf
• Danish: temperere
• Finnish: maustaa ja lämmittää
• Spanish: calentar (es), especiar

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."

6. (dialectal, Northern England) Dirt, dust, or other waste matter.

Derived terms

• fog mull

Translations

gauze used in bookbinding

• Greek: τέλα (el) (téla)

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

type of muslin

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: moll m or n

Etymology 3

From Scottish Gaelic maol.

Noun

mull (plural mulls)

2. (Scotland) A promontory.

   the Mull of Kintyre

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

Derived terms

• snuff-mull

Etymology 4

Borrowed from Danish muld, from Old Norse mold.

Noun

mull (uncountable)

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

Estonian

seebimull

Etymology

Sound-symbolic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmulʲː/, [ˈmulʲː]
• Rhymes: -ulʲː
• Hyphenation: mull

Noun

mull (genitive mulli, partitive mulli)

1. bubble (spherically contained volume of air in a liquid)

   Synonyms: vull (rare), pull (dated)

   Kas soovite mulliga või mullita vett? ― Would you like sparkling or still water? (literally, “ […] with bubbles or without bubbles?”)

Declension

Declension of mull (ÕS type 22e/riik, length gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		mull	mullid
accusative	nom.
	gen.	mulli
genitive			mullide
partitive		mulli	mulle mullisid
illative		mulli mullisse	mullidesse mullesse
inessive		mullis	mullides mulles
elative		mullist	mullidest mullest
allative		mullile	mullidele mullele
adessive		mullil	mullidel mullel
ablative		mullilt	mullidelt mullelt
translative		mulliks	mullideks mulleks
terminative		mullini	mullideni
essive		mullina	mullidena
abessive		mullita	mullideta
comitative		mulliga	mullidega

Derived terms

• mullike
• mulliline
• mullistama
• mullitama

Compounds

• börsimull
• gaasimull
• jutumull
• kinnisvaramull
• meediamull
• seebimull
• vahumull
• veemull
• õhumull

• mull-mull
• mullbetoon
• mullikile
• mullinäts
• mullivann
• mullivesi
• mulliümbrik
• mullkile
• mullklaas
• mullpakend
• mulltekstuur

Related terms

• mulisema

References

• mull in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)
• “mull”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009

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, volume (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
2. dust

Declension

Declension of mull

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	mull	mulls
	definite	mullen	mullens
plural	indefinite	—	—
	definite	—	—

See also

• matjord
• mullbär
• mylla

References

• “mull”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “mull”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “mull”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)