muller

Etymology 1

mull + -er

noun

1. One who, or that which, mulls.
2. (art) A grinding stone, held in the hand, used especially for preparing paints and powders.
   The muller provides, in addition, a useful means of comparing the important property of the rate of strength development of pigments. 1994, John Wilder Tukey, David R. Brillinger, The collected works of John W. Tukey, page 607
3. A vessel in which wine, etc., is mulled over a fire.

verb

1. To grind up into, or as if into, powder.
   The mixing is conducted in a water-bath, and during this process, and as long as the phosphorus is being ground or 'mullered,' copious fumes are evolved. 1848, On Lucifer Matches, in the Pharmaceutical Journal, volume 7 (1847-8), page 523
   I have often thought in my melancholy days, these years bygone, that if it might be supposed, that the souls of our worthies were come from heaven, and the dust of their mullered bodies from their graves, and reunite again; 1901, Patrick Walker, Six Saints of the Covenant, volume 1, page 31

Etymology 2

noun

1. (metallurgy) A machine that mixes sand and clay for use in metal castings.
   The muller can easily plow through any sand mixture that I put in it and has plenty of power left over. 2008, Stephen Chastain, Build a Muller, page 93

Etymology 3

Unknown. The most prosaic theory derives it from muller¹ (“to grind into powder”). One theory derives the term from the surname of the murderer Franz Müller, while another theory derives it from the surname of German footballer Gerd Müller; both are phonologically improbable. The Oxford Guide to Etymology →ISBN, 2009) asserts that it is "very probably of Romani origin, from a verb ultimately related to Sanskrit mṛ-' 'to die')."

verb

1. (transitive, UK, slang) To beat; to thrash (a person).
   The boys couldn't stand idly by while three Wednesdayites got mullered; it was not the done thing. 2012, Anthony Cronshaw, Wednesday Rucks and Rock 'n' Roll: Tales from the East Bank
2. (transitive, UK, slang) To defeat or destroy utterly (as in a sport or competition).
   Sure enough, they've got mullered. They're yesterday's men. The sands of time have washed over them. 2006, Jez Butterworth, The Winterling, page 39
   Then there were these zombie cult people in the beds, wires and stuff shoved into them, and then Yianna had these two minders and they were the ones who mullered us in Cairo, I swear, and one of them grabbed Con … 2007, Stephen Cole, Thieves Like Us, page 220
   "They mullered him, Jimmy." Spider shook his head. "He was completely destroyed." 2009, Martina Cole, Close, page 374