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definitions

mine

1
[mahyn]
||
SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mine ON THESAURUS.COM

pronoun

a form of the possessive case of I used as a predicate adjective: The yellow sweater is mine.
something that belongs to me: Mine is the red car.
Archaic. my (used before a word beginning with a vowel or a silent h, or following a noun): mine eyes; lady mine.

Origin of mine

1
before 900; Middle English; Old English mīn my; cognate with Old Norse mīn, German mein, Gothic meina; see me

mine

2
[mahyn]

noun

an excavation made in the earth for the purpose of extracting ores, coal, precious stones, etc.
a place where such minerals may be obtained, either by excavation or by washing the soil.
a natural deposit of such minerals.
an abundant source; store: a mine of information.
a device containing a charge of explosive in a watertight casing, floating on or moored beneath the surface of the water for the purpose of blowing up an enemy ship that strikes it or passes close by it.
a similar device used on land against personnel or vehicles; land mine.
a subterranean passage made to extend under an enemy's works or position, as for the purpose of securing access or of depositing explosives for blowing up a military position.
a passageway in the parenchyma of a leaf, made by certain insects.

verb (used without object), mined, min·ing.

to dig in the earth for the purpose of extracting ores, coal, etc.; make a mine.
to extract coal, ore, or the like, from a mine.
to make subterranean passages.
to place or lay mines, as in military or naval operations.

verb (used with object), mined, min·ing.

to dig in (earth, rock, etc.) in order to obtain ores, coal, etc.
to extract (ore, coal, etc.) from a mine.
to avail oneself of or draw useful or valuable material from: to mine every reference book available in writing the term paper.
to use, especially a natural resource: to mine the nation's forests.
to make subterranean passages in or under; burrow.
to make (passages, tunnels, etc.) by digging or burrowing.
to dig away or remove the foundations of.
to place or lay military or naval mines under: to mine an enemy supply road.
Agriculture. to grow crops in (soil) over an extended time without fertilizing.
to remove (a natural resource) from its source without attempting to replenish it.

Origin of mine

2
1275–1325; 1875–80 for def 5; (v.) Middle English minen < Old French miner (cognate with Provençal, Spanish minar, Italian minare) < Vulgar Latin *mīnāre, probably < a Celtic base *mein-; compare MIr méin, Welsh mwyn ore, mineral; (noun) Middle English < Middle French, perhaps noun derivative of miner; compare Medieval Latin mina mine, mineral
Related formsun·mined, adjective

Synonyms for mine

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mine ON THESAURUS.COM
4. supply, stock, fund, hoard.

I

[ahy]

pronoun, nominative I, possessive my or mine, objective me; plural nominative we, possessive our or ours, objective us.

the nominative singular pronoun, used by a speaker in referring to himself or herself.

noun, plural I's.

(used to denote the narrator of a literary work written in the first person singular).
Metaphysics. the ego.

Origin of I

before 900; Middle English ik, ich, i; Old English ic, ih; cognate with German ich, Old Norse ek, Latin ego, Greek egṓ, OCS azŭ, Lithuanian aš, Sanskrit ahám
Can be confusedaye eye I

Usage note

See me.

Min.E.

Mineral Engineer.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for mine

field, pit, store, quarry, reserve, unearth, shovel, extract, excavate, drill, abundance, shaft, hoard, wealth, fund, excavation, spring, treasury, well, bed

Examples from the Web for mine

Contemporary Examples of mine

Historical Examples of mine

  • Her parents knew of this fact, but mine were ignorant of it.

    Philothea

    Lydia Maria Child

  • Of course this isn't all mine; it includes ma's and Psyche's.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • He is a countryman of mine; and I know he is as avaricious as an Odomantian.

    Philothea

    Lydia Maria Child

  • I tell you he's alive and well, only he's lost your money and Pish's and mine and his own.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • “And mine uncle was from the New Forest in Hampshire,” he said.

    The Armourer's Prentices

    Charlotte M. Yonge

British Dictionary definitions for mine

mine

1

pronoun

something or someone belonging to or associated with memine is best
of mine belonging to or associated with me

determiner

(preceding a vowel) an archaic word for my 1 mine eyes; mine host

Word Origin for mine

Old English mīn; compare Old High German, Old Norse mīn, Dutch mijn

mine

2

noun

a system of excavations made for the extraction of minerals, esp coal, ores, or precious stones
any deposit of ore or minerals
a lucrative source or abundant supplyshe was a mine of information
a device containing an explosive designed to destroy ships, vehicles, or personnel, usually laid beneath the ground or in water
a tunnel or sap dug to undermine a fortification
a groove or tunnel made by certain insects, esp in a leaf

verb

to dig into (the earth) for (minerals)
to make (a hole, tunnel, etc) by digging or boring
to place explosive mines in position below the surface of (the sea or land)
to undermine (a fortification) by digging mines or saps
another word for undermine
Derived Formsminable or mineable, adjective

Word Origin for mine

C13: from Old French, probably of Celtic origin; compare Irish mein, Welsh mwyn ore, mine

i

I

noun plural i's, I's or Is

the ninth letter and third vowel of the modern English alphabet
any of several speech sounds represented by this letter, in English as in bite or hit
  1. something shaped like an I
  2. (in combination)an I-beam
dot the i's and cross the t's to pay meticulous attention to detail

i

symbol for

the imaginary number √–1Also called: j

I

1

pronoun

(subjective) refers to the speaker or writer

Word Origin for I

C12: reduced form of Old English ic; compare Old Saxon ik, Old High German ih, Sanskrit ahám

I

2

symbol for

chem iodine
physics current
physics isospin
logic a particular affirmative categorial statement, such as some men are married, often symbolized as SiPCompare A, E, O 1
(Roman numeral) oneSee Roman numerals

abbreviation for

Italy (international car registration)

Word Origin for I

(for sense 4) from Latin (aff) i (rmo) I affirm
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 mine
pron.

Old English min "mine, my," (pronoun and adjective), from Proto-Germanic *minaz (cf. Old Frisian, Old Saxon Old High German min, Middle Dutch, Dutch mijn, German mein, Old Norse minn, Gothic meins "my, mine"), from the base of me. Superseded as adjective beginning 13c. by my.

n.1

"pit or tunnel in the earth for obtaining metals and minerals," c.1300, from Old French mine "vein, lode; tunnel, shaft; mineral ore; mine" (for coal, tin, etc,), of uncertain origin, probably from a Celtic source (cf. Welsh mwyn, Irish mein "ore, mine"), from Old Celtic *meini-. Italy and Greece were relatively poor in minerals, thus they did not contribute a word for this to English, but there was extensive mining from an early date in Celtic lands (Cornwall, etc.). From c.1400 as "a tunnel under fortifications to overthrow them."

v.2

"lay explosives," 1620s, in reference to old tactic of tunneling under enemy fortifications to blow them up; a specialized sense of mine (v.1) via a sense of "dig under foundations to undermine them" (late 14c.), and miner in this sense is attested from late 13c. Related: Mined; mining.

v.1

to dig, c.1300, "to tunnel under fortifications to overthrow them," from mine (n.1) or from Old French miner "to dig, mine; exterminate." From mid-14c. as "to dig in the earth" (for treasure, etc.). Figurative use from mid-14c. Related: Mined; mining.

n.2

explosive device, by 1850, from mine (v.2).

I

pron.

12c. shortening of Old English ic, first person singular nominative pronoun, from Proto-Germanic *ekan (cf. Old Frisian ik, Old Norse ek, Norwegian eg, Danish jeg, Old High German ih, German ich, Gothic ik), from PIE *eg-, nominative form of the first person singular pronoun (cf. Sanskrit aham, Hittite uk, Latin ego (source of French Je), Greek ego, Russian ja, Lithuanian aš). Reduced to i by mid-12c. in northern England, it began to be capitalized mid-13c. to mark it as a distinct word and avoid misreading in handwritten manuscripts.

The reason for writing I is ... the orthographic habit in the middle ages of using a 'long i' (that is, j or I) whenever the letter was isolated or formed the last letter of a group; the numeral 'one' was written j or I (and three iij, etc.), just as much as the pronoun. [Otto Jespersen, "Growth and Structure of the English Language," p.233]

The form ich or ik, especially before vowels, lingered in northern England until c.1400 and survived in southern dialects until 18c. The dot on the "small" letter -i- began to appear in 11c. Latin manuscripts, to distinguish the letter from the stroke of another letter (such as -m- or -n-). Originally a diacritic, it was reduced to a dot with the introduction of Roman type fonts.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
mine in Medicine

I

The symbol for the elementiodine
i The symbol forcurrent
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
mine in Science

mine

[mīn]

An underground excavation in the Earth from which ore, rock, or minerals can be extracted.

i

[ī]

The number whose square is equal to -1. Numbers expressed in terms of i are called imaginary or complex numbers.

I

The symbol for electric current.
The symbol for iodine.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Idioms and Phrases with mine

mine

see back to the salt mines; gold mine; your guess is as good as mine.

i

see dot the i's and cross the t's.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.