A mill for grinding bark.
1829. He works hard at his task; and goes at it with the reluctance of an old horse in a bark-mill.—John P. Kennedy, ‘Swallow Barn,’ p. 181 (N.Y., 1851).
1846. [The alligator’s mouth] gives the same hope of getting out of it, sound in body and mind, if once in, as does the hopper of a bark-mill.—T. B. Thorpe, ‘Mysteries of the Backwoods,’ p. 139.
1861. He must recede as submissively as a blind horse in a bark-mill to every perverted opinion which sits, whip in hand, on the revolving shaft, at the end of which he is harnessed.—Speech of Mr. Clemens of Virginia in the House of Representatives: O. J. Victor, ‘The History … of the Southern Rebellion,’ i. 270.
1885. Most tanners grind it in a bark-mill.—Harper’s Weekly, Jan. 27. (N.E.D.)
