MINCE

mince

(noun) food chopped into small bits; “a mince of mushrooms”

mince, soften, moderate

(verb) make less severe or harsh; “He moderated his tone when the students burst out in tears”

mince

(verb) cut into small pieces; “mince the garlic”

mince

(verb) walk daintily; “She minced down the street”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

---

Etymology

Noun

mince (countable and uncountable, plural minces)

(uncountable) Finely chopped meat.

(uncountable) Finely chopped mixed fruit used in Christmas pies; mincemeat.

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

(countable) An affected manner, especially of speaking; an affectation.

(countable, Cockney rhyming slang, mostly, in the plural) An eye (from mince pie).

Verb

mince (third-person singular simple present minces, present participle mincing, simple past and past participle minced)

(transitive) To make less; make small.

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

Synonym: Thesaurus:diminish

(transitive, rare) To effect mincingly.

(transitive, cooking) To cut into very small pieces; to chop fine.

(archaic, transitive, figuratively) To suppress or weaken the force of

Synonyms: extenuate, palliate, weaken

To say or utter vaguely, not directly or frankly

(transitive) To affect; to pronounce affectedly or with an accent.

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

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

Usage notes

Current usage in the sense of “say or utter vaguely” is mostly limited to the phrase “mince words”; e.g, “I won't mince words with you”.

Source: Wiktionary

---

Mince, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Minced; p. pr. & vb. n. Minging.] Etym: [AS. minsian to grow less, dwindle, fr. min small; akin to G. minder less, Goth. minniza less, mins less, adv., L. minor, adj. (cf. Minor); or more likely fr. F. mincer to mince, prob. from (assumed) LL. minutiare. Minish.]

1. To cut into very small pieces; to chop fine; to hash; as, to mince meat. Bacon.

2. To suppress or weaken the force of; to extenuate; to palliate; to tell by degrees, instead of directly and frankly; to clip, as words or expressions; to utter half and keep back half of. I know no ways to mince it in love, but directly to say -- "I love you." Shak. Siren, now mince the sin, And mollify damnation with a phrase. Dryden. If, to mince his meaning, I had either omitted some part of what he said, or taken from the strength of his expression, I certainly had wronged him. Dryden.

3. To affect; to make a parade of. [R.] Shak.

Mince, v. i.

1. To walk with short steps; to walk in a prim, affected manner. The daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes,... mincing as they go. Is. iii. 16. I 'll... turn two mincing steps Into a manly stride. Shak.

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

Mince, n.

Definition: A short, precise step; an affected manner.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

---

Do you know this game?

Wordscapes is a popular word game consistently in the top charts of both Google Play Store and Apple App Store. The Android version has more than 10 million installs. This guide will help you get more coins in less than two minutes of playing the game. Continue reading Wordscapes: Get More Coins