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mince

[mins]
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verb (used with object), minced, minc·ing.
  1. to cut or chop into very small pieces.
  2. to soften, moderate, or weaken (one's words), especially for the sake of decorum or courtesy.
  3. to perform or utter with affected elegance.
  4. to subdivide minutely, as land or a topic for study.
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verb (used without object), minced, minc·ing.
  1. to walk or move with short, affectedly dainty steps.
  2. Archaic. to act or speak with affected elegance.
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noun
  1. something cut up very small; mincemeat.
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Idioms
  1. not mince words/matters, to speak directly and frankly; be blunt or outspoken: He was angry and didn't mince words.
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Origin of mince

1350–1400; Middle English mincen < Middle French minc(i)er < Vulgar Latin *minūtiāre to mince; see minute2
Related formsminc·er, nounun·minced, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

molardicerminceraxe

Examples from the Web for mincer

Historical Examples

  • "I've helped to 'try out' one hundred and fifty bar'ls from one whale," said the mincer.

    Belford's Magazine, Vol. II, No. 3, February 1889

    Various

  • The mincer now stands before you invested in the full canonicals of his calling.

  • They have no interest in making the million take their literature after it has been passed through a mincer.

    The Curse of Education

    Harold E. Gorst

  • After being severed from the whale, the white-horse is first cut into portable oblongs ere going to the mincer.

British Dictionary definitions for mincer

mincer

noun
  1. an appliance used to mince meat
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mince

verb
  1. (tr) to chop, grind, or cut into very small pieces
  2. (tr) to soften or moderate, esp for the sake of convention or politenessI didn't mince my words
  3. (intr) to walk or speak in an affected dainty manner
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noun
  1. mainly British minced meat
  2. informal nonsensical rubbish
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Word Origin

C14: from Old French mincier, from Vulgar Latin minūtiāre (unattested), from Late Latin minūtia smallness; see minutiae
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for mincer

mince

v.

late 14c., "to chop in little pieces," from Old French mincier "make into small pieces," from Vulgar Latin *minutiare "make small," from Late Latin minutiæ "small bits," from Latin minutus "small" (see minute (adj.)). Of speech, "to clip affectedly in imitation of elegance," 1540s; of words or language, "to restrain in the interest of decorum," 1590s. Meaning "to walk with short or precise steps" is from 1560s. Related: Minced; mincing.

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mince

n.

"minced meat," 1850; see mincemeat.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper