subs. phr. (common).—1. Grinding; working hard. Cf., TO COCK SNOOKS (see SNOOKS) or ‘take a sight’ by putting the thumb of one hand to the nose and grinding the little finger with the other, as if you worked an imaginary coffee mill.
1837. DICKENS, Pickwick Papers, p. 249.
1854. MARTIN and AYTOUN, Bon Gaultier Ballads, ‘The Lay of the Lovelorn.’
| When I went the pace so wildly, caring little what might come, | |
| COFFEE-MILLING care and sorrow, with a nose-adapted thumb. |
