Sekirov Dictionary

mince

/mɪns/

verb 9
noun 6
forms 4
phrases 2

verb9

•
To cut into very small pieces; to chop finely.
- Butchers often use machines to mince meat.
To make less; to make small.
To lessen; to diminish; to diminish in speaking; to speak of lightly or slightingly; to minimise.
•
To say or utter vaguely (not directly or frankly).
- to mince one's words
•
To affect; to pronounce affectedly or with an accent.
- One may hear some speakers in Oxford mince brother into brover (brëvë); Bath into Baf; both into bof. — 1905
•
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
•
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.
(rare) To effect mincingly.
•
(figurative, no longer used) To suppress or weaken the force of.
- Siren, now mince the sin, / And mollify damnation with a phrase. — 1681

noun6

•
Finely chopped meat; minced meat.
- Mince tastes really good fried in a pan with some chopped onion and tomato.
•
Finely chopped mixed fruit used in Christmas pies; mincemeat.
- During Christmas time my dad loves to eat mince pies.
•
(UK, slang) Something worthless; rubbish.
- That band's new album is total mince.
•
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
•
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
[in the plural] (slang) An eye (from mince pie).

forms

minced · mincing · minces · minceth

Phrases with mince

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