mince
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /mɪns/
homophone: mints
rhymes: -ɪns
Forms: form: minces
form: mincing
form: minced
form: minced
form: minch
form: minse
Etymology: From Middle English mincen, minsen; partly from Old English minsian, ġeminsian (“to make less, make smaller, diminish”), from Proto-West Germanic *minnisōn, from Proto-Germanic *minnisōną (“to make less”); partly from Old French mincer, mincier (“to cut into small pieces”), from mince (“slender, slight, puny”), from Frankish *minsto, *minnisto, superlative of *min, *minn (“small, less”), from Proto-Germanic *minniz (“less”); both from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“small, little”). Cognate with Old Saxon minsōn (“to make less, make smaller”), Old Dutch minson (“to make smaller”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌽𐌶𐌽𐌰𐌽 (minznan, “to become less, diminish”), Swedish minska (“to reduce, lessen”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌽𐍃 (mins, “slender, slight”). More at min.
Senses: glosses: To make less; to make small.
synonyms: word: abate
word: bring down
word: cut
word: decrease
word: decrement
word: diminish
word: foreshorten
word: lessen
word: lower
word: reduce
glosses: To lessen; to diminish; to diminish in speaking; to speak of lightly or slightingly; to minimise.
glosses: To effect mincingly.
examples: text: Butchers often use machines to mince meat.
topics: cooking
food
lifestyle
glosses: To cut into very small pieces; to chop finely.
examples: text: Siren, now mince the sin, / And mollify damnation with a phrase.
ref: 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page number):
synonyms: extenuate
palliate
weaken
glosses: To suppress or weaken the force of.
examples: text: to mince one's words
text: a minced oath
text: I know no ways to mince it in love, but directly to say — "I love you."
ref: 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
text: Despite prolonged exposure to harsh conditions, medics say Nora Tallis returned to the Nexus in stable condition. In a statement to HNS, Tallis did not mince words. "Never send me to that hellhole again."
ref: 2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: ELAADEN (HNS) - Nora Tallis Found Alive:
glosses: To say or utter vaguely (not directly or frankly).
examples: text: In some districts of England ll is sounded like w, thus bowd (booud) for BOLD, bw (buu) for BULL, caw (kau) for CALL. But this pronunciation is merely a provincialism, and not to be imitated unless you wish to mince like these blunderers.
ref: 1869, Alexander J. Ellis, On Early English Pronunciation, with special reference to Shakespeare and Chaucer, part 1, page 194:
text: One may hear some speakers in Oxford mince brother into brover (brëvë); Bath into Baf; both into bof.
ref: 1905, George Henderson, The Gaelic Dialects, IV, in the Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie, published by Kuno Meyer and L. Chr. Stern, volume 5, page 98
text: "[…]The preacher said it was sympathetic," she minced the word, remembering Mr. Larsen's manner.
ref: 1915 October, Willa Sibert Cather, chapter III, in The Song of the Lark, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company […], →OCLC, part II (The Song of the Lark), page 186:
glosses: To affect; to pronounce affectedly or with an accent.
examples: text: At the last moment Mollie, the foolish, pretty white mare who drew Mr. Jones's trap, came mincing daintily in, chewing at a lump of sugar.
ref: 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
text: The daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, mincing as they go.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 3:16:
text: I'll […] turn two mincing steps into a manly stride.
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], page 177, column 1:
glosses: To walk with short steps; to walk in a prim, affected manner.
examples: text: I love going to gay bars and seeing drag queens mince around on stage.
glosses: To act or talk with affected nicety; to affect delicacy in manner.
Derived terms: minceable
mince matters
mincemeat
mince one's words
mince pie
mincer
mince up
mince words
minsitive