MINCE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Mince

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/mɪns/ Listen

noun

Mince n. A short, precise step; an affected manner.

verb

Mince v. t. (past & past part. minced; pres. part. minging)

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

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; as, he doesn't mince words. "I know no ways to mince it in love, but directly to say "I love you."" "Siren, now mince the sin, And mollify damnation with a phrase." "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."

To affect; to make a parade of. (R.)

Mince v. i.

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." "I 'll... turn two mincing steps Into a manly stride."

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

See images of 'Mince'

Etymology of 'Mince'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar

"Mince" Quotes from Famous Books

... have made mince-meat of you and me and the rest of us if he had lived. That's what I mean," replied Mr. Condor, unruffled, and lightly whiffing the smoke. "But it's necessary to draw some resolutions to offer in the committee, and I've brought them ...

— Trumps • George William Curtis

... cakes for breakfast, too, and Heppy beckoned Marian to the kitchen afterward. A row of mince pies stood on the table, and at the end of the row was a little scalloped one, "for you," said Heppy. There was a pair of queerly shaped figures, too, among the ginger-snaps. Heppy gave a funny chuckle as she picked them out. "I guess nobody'd know ...

— Little Maid Marian • Amy E. Blanchard

... "I won't forget Gerald." He stood a moment at the window watching the brougham below where Nina awaited Miss Erroll. Then, abruptly, he turned back into the room and picked up the telephone receiver, muttering: "This is no time to mince matters for the sake of appearances." And he called up Gerald at the offices of Neergard ...

— The Younger Set • Robert W. Chambers

... surrendered?" inquired he, riding up. "It is well for them; we'd have made mince-meat of them otherwise; now they shall be well treated, ...

— Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon, Volume 1 (of 2) • Charles Lever

... only a deacon; he lived in our house, and he was, with all his dear clumsiness, a daughter to my father, a nurse to us. I could tell you of such beautiful awkward tendernesses! How he used to help me with my sums—and tie Owen's shoes, and mince his dinner for him—and spare my father all that was possible! I am sure you know how we ...

— Hopes and Fears - scenes from the life of a spinster • Charlotte M. Yonge

More quotes...