mense

[ mens ]

/ mɛns /

British Dialect

noun

propriety; discretion.

verb (used with object), mensed, mens·ing.

to adorn; bring honor to; grace.

Nearby words

mens rea, mens sana in corpore sano, mensa, mensal, mensch, mense, menservants, menses, menshevik, menshevism, menstrual

Origin of mense

1490–1500; variant (north) of mensk, Middle English menske courtesy, honor < Old Norse menska humanity, cognate with Old English menniscu literally, the human state; akin to mensch. See man¹, -ish¹

Related forms

mense·ful, adjectivemense·less, adjective

Examples from the Web for mense

(from whose work I take the extract), the following passage occurs, under the head "Mense Januario."
Notes and Queries, Number 20, March 16, 1850|Various
An idle taistrill is t' sparrow, wi' nowther sense nor mense in his head.
More Tales of the Ridings|Frederic Moorman
Mense′ful, decorous: respectable; Mense′less, graceless, uncivil.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M)|Various
They's not nice gemmans at all to s'pect little folkses like us to carry such a drefful 'mense, 'normous, big box same as this.
Mary's Rainbow|Mary Edward Feehan

In Mense's Handbuch der Tropenkrankheiten, i, p. 263-283, pls.
Handbook of Medical Entomology|William Albert Riley