mincing, niminy-piminy, prim, twee
(adjective) affectedly dainty or refined
Source: WordNet® 3.1
mincing
present participle of mince
mincing (comparative more mincing, superlative most mincing)
Affectedly dainty.
mincing (plural mincings)
The act by which something is minced.
Source: Wiktionary
Min"cing, a.
Definition: That minces; characterized by primness or affected nicety.
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
16 March 2025
(adjective) (of undissolved particles in a fluid) supported or kept from sinking or falling by buoyancy and without apparent attachment; “suspended matter such as silt or mud...”; “dust particles suspended in the air”; “droplets in suspension in a gas”
The word “coffee” entered the English language in 1582 via the Dutch “koffie,” borrowed from the Ottoman Turkish “kahve,” borrowed in turn from the Arabic “qahwah.” The Arabic word qahwah was traditionally held to refer to a type of wine.
