minish

American  

[min-ish] / ˈmɪn ɪʃ /

verb (used with or without object)

Archaic.

1. to diminish or lessen.

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Usage

What does minish mean? Minish means the same thing as diminish—to make or become smaller, fewer, or less. Minish is considered archaic, which means it was once in regular usage but is now largely unused. Example: Our forces have minished, and we must draw back.

Etymology

Origin of minish

1300–50; late Middle English, variant (assimilated to -ish ² ) of menuse < Middle French menu ( i ) sier < Vulgar Latin *minūtiāre to lessen. See minute ², mince

Example Sentences

But primal germs in bringing things to birth Must have a latent, unseen quality, Lest some outstanding alien element Confuse and minish in the thing create Its proper being.

From On the Nature of Things by Leonard, William Ellery

O Princess of fair ones, think not that I brought thee hither hither to minish thy honour.

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 13 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir

But absence cannot minish love, or make it less in ought.

From A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 6 by Hazlitt, William Carew

But bleeding, weak with years, and tired, Beneath the demon's blows expired, Due rites at Ráma's hands obtained, And bliss that ne'er shall minish, gained.

From The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Griffith, Ralph T. H. (Ralph Thomas Hotchkin)

Short our end and minish our pain: Let us go, and never come again.

From A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 1 by Hazlitt, William Carew