drown the miller

Meanings:

• 1.

  historicalregionalarchaicliteral
  • To cause the death by drowning of a miller; to drown a person who operates a mill.
  • To destroy by inundation or flooding the operations of a mill or the livelihood of a miller.

• 2.

  historicalregionalrarefigurativearchaic
  • To ruin or overwhelm a person's livelihood or business, especially through external forces or deliberate actions; to destroy someone who provides a necessary service.
  • To punish, scapegoat, or harshly condemn the person responsible for a service or process, often unjustly or disproportionately.