amolar

Literally to sharpen a blade or tool on a grindstone (amolar un cuchillo), and, very commonly in Mexican Spanish, informally to bother, annoy, or mess something up — no me amueles ('don't bug me' / 'quit it'). Both senses are alive and common in different regions.

• El afilador pasaba por la calle para amolar cuchillos. — The knife sharpener used to go around the street sharpening knives.
• ¡No me amueles, todavía no he terminado! — Quit bugging me, I'm not done yet!
• Se le amoló el plan cuando empezó a llover. — His plan got messed up when it started raining.

Missing the o-to-ue stem change in the present tense — it's amuelo, amuelas, amuela, not *amolo, *amolas, *amola.

Often confused with afilar.

• expression "No me amueles" / "Ya ni la amuelas" — Well-known Mexican colloquial expressions built on amolar's informal sense of 'to bother/mess up' — no me amueles means roughly 'quit bugging me,' and ya ni la amuelas is a common exasperated exclamation ('you've really outdone yourself this time,' in a bad way).