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mince

noun, verb — 15 senses

mince

noun

US, UK /mɪns/

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.

1

Finely chopped meat; minced meat.

  • Mince tastes really good fried in a pan with some chopped onion and tomato.
2

Finely chopped mixed fruit used in Christmas pies; mincemeat.

  • During Christmas time my dad loves to eat mince pies.
3

An affected (often dainty or short and precise) gait.

  • A wiry little girl in a starched, lemon-colored party dress, she sassed along with a grownup mince, one hand on her hip, the other supporting a spinsterish umbrella.1949, Truman Capote, “Children on their Birthdays”, in A Tree of Night and Other Stories, page 36:
  • She was just the same; she had a light way of walking and she always wore flat heels so she didn't have that mince like most girls.1963, John Fowles, The Collector, page 15:
1 more example
  • His skin was china pale, he walked with a slight mince, and his silver mustache was always trimmed sharp; it was his custom to send a bouquet of pink carnations to the wives of men with whom he dined.2010, Tom Zoellner, Uranium: War, Energy, and the Rock That Shaped the World:
4

An affected manner, especially of speaking; an affectation.

  • A very moderate degree of accomplishment in this direction would make an end of stage smart speech, which, like the got-up Oxford mince and drawl of a foolish curate, is the mark of a snob.1896, George Bernard Shaw, “Madame Sans-Gene”, in London Saturday Review:
  • And, further, who has not heard what someone has christened the "Oxford" mince, where every consonant is mispronounced and every vowel gets a wrong value?1928, R. M. Pope, The Education Outlook, volume 80, page 285:
1 more example
  • [...] a smiling man, portly and impressive, coming toward them with a dignified mince in his walk.2008, Opie Read, The Colossus, page 95:
5

Cockney, In plural, Slang An eye (from mince pie).

  • Lancashire is a bit nazi about speed and the M6 in that area can be either clear or infested with vans and their helicopter. On the good side the vans tend to be on well sighted bridges so just keep the old minces peeled.2009 May 21, planetdave, “Speed traps”, in PistonHeads, retrieved 22 Mar 2017:
6

UK, Slang Something worthless; rubbish.

  • That band's new album is total mince.
Derived terms
mincy, thick as mince

mince

verb
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.

9 senses
  1. 1To make less; to make small.
  2. 2To lessen; to diminish; to diminish in speaking; to…
  3. 3To effect mincingly.
  4. 4To cut into very small pieces; to chop finely.
  5. 5To suppress or weaken the force of.
  6. 6To say or utter vaguely (not directly or frankly).
  7. 7To affect; to pronounce affectedly or with an accent.
  8. 8To walk with short steps; to walk in a prim, affected manner.
  9. 9To act or talk with affected nicety; to affect delicacy…
1

To make less; to make small.

2

To lessen; to diminish; to diminish in speaking; to speak of lightly or slightingly; to minimise.

3

Rare To effect mincingly.

4

Cooking, Food, Lifestyle To cut into very small pieces; to chop finely.

  • Butchers often use machines to mince meat.
5

Archaic, Figuratively To suppress or weaken the force of.

  • Siren, now mince the sin, / And mollify damnation with a phrase.1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page number):
6

To say or utter vaguely (not directly or frankly).

  • to mince one's words
  • a minced oath
2 more examples
  • I know no ways to mince it in love, but directly to say — "I love you."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]:
  • 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."2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: ELAADEN (HNS) - Nora Tallis Found Alive:
7

To affect; to pronounce affectedly or with an accent.

  • 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.1869, Alexander J. Ellis, On Early English Pronunciation, with special reference to Shakespeare and Chaucer, part 1, page 194:
  • One may hear some speakers in Oxford mince brother into brover (brëvë); Bath into Baf; both into bof.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
1 more example
  • "[…]The preacher said it was sympathetic," she minced the word, remembering Mr. Larsen's manner.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:
8

To walk with short steps; to walk in a prim, affected manner.

  • 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.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:
  • The daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, mincing as they go.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 3:16:
1 more example
  • I'll […] turn two mincing steps into a manly stride.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:
9

To act or talk with affected nicety; to affect delicacy in manner.

  • I love going to gay bars and seeing drag queens mince around on stage.
Derived terms
minceable, mince matters, mincemeat, mince one's words, mince pie, mincer, mince up, mince words, minsitive

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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