mince

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“
13, where Mrs. Harrington now deals out coffee and "mince"-pie to her customers, Beacon Hill was a collection of pastures, owned by thirteen proprietors, in lots containing from a half to twenty acres each.

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Definitions (25)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (7)

  1. transitive verb To cut or chop into very small pieces.
  2. transitive verb To subdivide (land, for example) into minute parts.
  3. transitive verb To pronounce in an affected way, as with studied elegance and refinement.
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Examples (50)

  • "How does it make you feel If I should find an image for my feelings just at present, you would scorn me for my base material thoughts Find it," she commanded I think I feel like a mince-pie--a maddening jumble of things delicious and indigestible She laughed and grew friendly. —  Jewel Weed
  • Little things became great things in the glare of religious zeal; and the godly man learnt to shrink from a surplice, or a mince-pie at Christmas, as he shrank from impurity or a lie. —  History of the English People, Volume V (of 8) Puritan England, 1603-1660
  • It seemed very strange that Rackliff should not be somewhere on hand to watch the progress of the contest One thing is sure," was the promise the unhappy youth made himself, "I'll tell him just what I think of him when I get a good chance, and I won't mum-mince my words. —  Rival Pitchers of Oakdale
  • On a daily ration of half-a-pound of bread and two ounces of very inferior "mince," the men still preserved the stamina to do daily drill, dress with care, and keep their tents in order. —  Europe—Whither Bound? Being Letters of Travel from the Capitals of Europe in the Year 1921
  • Mrs. Steene sent for the mince-pies, and, I am grieved to add, garbled her household accounts in order to conceal the fact from her husband. —  Brother Jacob
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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English mincen, from Old French mincier, from Vulgar Latin *minūtiāre, from Latin minūtia, smallness; see minutia.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English *mincen, *myncen, minsen, (a) partly from Anglo-Saxon minsian, make less, become less, diminish (cf. verbal noun minsung, parsimony, abstinence) (= Old Saxon minsōn, make less, = Gothic (Moesogothic) minznan, become less); with formative -s (as also in cleanse, rinse, etc.) (cf. Icelandic minnka = Swedish minska = Danish mindske, make less, with formative -k), from min, less (see min); (b) partly from Old French mincer, French mincer, cut small, from mince, slender, slight, puny, prob. of Teutonic origin, perhaps from the superlative of min, less (see min), or more prob. the adjective mince is a back formation from the verb mincer, which is then from Old Saxon minsōn, etc., make small: see above.
  2. from mince(-meat).
 

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/mɪns/
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