| 释义 |
▪ I. † mean, n.1 Obs.
Forms: 3–5 mene, 6, 9 meane, 9 meen.
[f. mean v.2]
A lament, complaint.
12..Prayer to Virg. 34 in O.E. Misc. 196 To þe ne dar i clepien noht to hire ich make min mene. 1300–1400Cursor M. (Gött.) 19758 Widuten ani mene or sare. c1470Henry Wallace iv. 153 Thar petuous mene as than couth nocht be bett. a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 286 This bischope..maid his meane and complent to the lord Home. 18..in Kinloch's Sc. Ballads (1827) 131 She heard a puir prisoner making his meane. 18..Mary Hamilton xiii. in Child Ballads III. 389 ‘Make never meen for me’, she says.
▪ II. mean, n.2|miːn|
Forms: 4–6 mene, 4–7 meane, 5–6 meyne, 5 meene, 6– mean.
[Partly the absolute use of mean a.2, and partly adopted from the similar substantival use in OF.]
I. That which is in the middle.
1. a. That which is intermediate; a condition, quality, disposition, or course of action, that is equally removed from two opposite (usually, blamable) extremes; a medium. Often with laudatory adj., as golden, happy mean, † merry mean.
c1374Chaucer Boeth. iv. Pr. vii. 146 Occupy þe mene by stedfast strengþes [L. firmis medium viribus occupate]. 1399[see merry a.]. c1400Rom. Rose 6527 Richesse and mendicitees Ben cleped two extremitees; The mene is cleped suffisaunce. c1420Pallad. on Husb. ii. 27 Demene hit in the mene of moyst and drie. Ibid. 127 The mene is best thyn ayer to qualifie. 1529Supplic. to King (1871) 45 Betwene these extreame contraries there is no meane. 1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 337, I haue hard that extremities are to be vsed, where the meane will not serue. 1587, etc. [see golden a. 5 c]. 1596Spenser Hymn Hon. Love 87 Tempering goodly well Their contrary dislikes with loved meanes. 1654–66Earl of Orrery Parthen. (1676) 5 There was no mean between my misery and her favour. 1690W. Walker Idiomat. Anglo-Lat. 297 In apparel the mean is the best. 1727Swift Poisoning E. Curll Wks. 1755 III. i. 152 There is a mean in all things. 1732Berkeley Alciphr. v. §6 Religion is the virtuous mean between incredulity and superstition. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vii. (ed. 5) II. 234 It is not easy..to preserve with steadiness the happy mean between these two extremes. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 24/2 A mean between the darkest and lightest tint used.
†b. Absence of extremes; moderation, measure. in a mean: with moderation. to use a mean: to exercise moderation. Obs.
1545R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 17, I woulde desire all.. to vse this pastime in suche a mean that the outragiousnes of great gamyng, should not hurte the honestie of shotyng. 1556Aurelio & Isab. (1608) D iij, The Kinge..axede them what meane one oughte to keape in suche a case. 1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 23 So they [versifying, dancing and singing] bee vsed with meane, and exercised in due tyme. 1607Norden Surv. Dial. ii. 103, I wish, that Lords and their ministers would use a meane in exacting. 1621Fletcher Wild Goose Chase ii. ii, I will be what I please, Sir, So I exceed not Mean. 1625Bacon Ess., Adversity (Arb.) 504 But to speake in a Meane. 1655Culpepper, etc. Riverius i. i. 4 Use a mean in sleep and waking. 1718Pope Iliad xvii. 573 When he seeks the prize War knows no mean.
2. Mus.
†a. A middle or intermediate part in any harmonized composition or performance, esp. the tenor and alto. Also, a person performing that part or the instrument on which it is played.
The use app. survived in dialects until recently: see E.D.D.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 11263 Þo clerkes þat best couþe synge, Wyþ treble, mene, & burdoun. c1400Laud Troy Bk. 6599, I schal the teche bothe burdoun and mene. c1500in Burney Hist. Mus. (1782) II. 435 There are 3 degrees of Discant, that is to say Mene, Treble, and Quadrible. The Mene beginneth in the 5, abowvyn the Playn Songe in voys [etc.]. Ibid. And so the Discant of the Mene Salbegynne hys Discant about the Playne Songe in Syght. 1526Skelton Magnyf. 138 All trebyllys and tenours be rulyd by a meyne. 1611Tourneur Ath. Trag. iii. iii, Trebles and bases make poore musick without meanes. 1698Wallis in Phil. Trans. XX. 302 Several Parts or Voices (as Bass, Treble, Mean, &c. sung in Consort).
fig.c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 54 The [nasal] organys..begynne to syng ther messe, With treble meene and tenor discordyng. 1590Spenser F.Q. ii. xii. 33 On the rocke the waves breaking aloft A solemne Meane unto them measured. 1616Goodman Fall of Man 78 The little chirping birds..they sing a mean.
†b. A name for the second and the third string of a viol or lute. Obs.
1879Chappell Pop. Mus. I. 317 note, If there were two means, as in the lute, the lower was called the greater; the upper, the lesser mean. 1880Grove Dict. Mus. II. 242/2.
†c. ? = natural n. Obs.
1675Cocker Morals 20 Grace..tunes Natures Harp, And makes that Note a Mean, which was a Sharp.
†3. The middle (of anything). Obs.
c1420Pallad. on Husb. iii. 398 He seyd ereithe[r] sappe wol condescende Vnto that mene, & glew hem self in fere. c1440Promp. Parv. 332/1 Meene, myddys (H.P. medyl), medium. 1688R. Holme Armoury ii. 79/1 This leaf is..heart-like in the mean, or part next the stalk.
†4. Logic. The middle term of a syllogism. Obs.
1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xiv. §1 It is in proofe by Syllogisme; for the proofe being not immediate but by Meane: the Inuention of the Meane is one thinge [etc.].
†5. Gram. A ‘mean’ or ‘middle’ verb (see mean a.2 8): = reflexive n. B. 2. Obs.
1530Palsgr. Introd. 35 All whiche differences of conjugation betwene the actyve verbes and theyr meanes I declare at length in my seconde boke.
†6. Something interposed or intervening. by means: through intermediate links (of descent). without any mean (= F. sans moyen): directly, immediately, unconditionally. Obs.
c1340Hampole Prose Tr. 16 All menes lettande be-twyx þe saule and þe clennes of angells es brokene and put awaye fra it. 1425Rolls of Parlt. IV. 270/2 Of whiche Doughter by menes is comen ye Erle. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. lxiii. 85 It was determyned, that bothe parties..shulde sende foure or fyue personages, as their embassodours, and to mete at Arras; and the pope in likwyse to sende thyder foure, and ther to make a full confirmacyon without any meane. Ibid. cccli. 564 All the gentylmen of Flaunders sware to hym to be good and true..without any meane, wherfore therle was greatly reioysed. 1548–77Vicary Anat. ii. (1888) 18 That the grystle should be a meane betweene the Lygament and him [sc. the bone]. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iii, ii. 141 So doe I wish the Crowne, being so farre off, And so I chide the meanes that keepes me from it.
†7. in the mean: in the meantime. Obs.
1565Stapleton tr. Bede's Hist. Ch. Eng. 27 In the meane suffering no remedies to be applied vnto his owne infirmities. 1590Spenser F.Q. ii. i. 58 In the meane, vouchsafe her honorable toombe. a1657R. Loveday Lett. (1663) 193* In the mean, I shall..read over your Translation with the Originall. 1793Jefferson Writ. (1859) IV. 59 Time in the mean will be lost.
8. a. Math. [= F. moyenne, ellipt. for quantité moyenne.] The term (or, in plural, the terms) intermediate between the first and last terms (called the extremes) of a progression of any kind (distinctively, arithmetic(al mean, geometric(al mean, harmonic(al mean). Also, in a wider sense, a quantity so related to a set of n quantities that the result of operating with it in a certain manner n times is the same as that of operating similarly with each of the set. In this sense the arithmetic(al mean (commonly called simply the mean) of a set of n quantities is the quotient of their sum divided by n; the geometric(al mean is the nth root of their product.
1571Digges Pantom., Math. Treat. def. iv. T j b, When foure magnitudes are..in continual proportion, the first and the fourth are the extremes, and the second and thirde the meanes. 1660R. Coke Justice Vind. 23 Nor [in harmonical proportion] do the extremes added or multiplied produce the like number with the mean. 1674S. Jeake Arith. (1696) 570 If between 2 and 54 two proportional Means be sought, the Lesser will be 6 and the Greater 18. 1709J. Ward Yng. Math. Guide i. vi. (1734) 73 If any Four Numbers are in Arithmetical Progression, the Sum of the Two Extreams will be Equal to the Sum of the Two Means. 1881J. Casey Sequel Euclid 88 The Arithmetic mean is to the Geometric mean as the Geometric mean is to the Harmonic mean.
b. An average amount or value; used for mean pressure, temperature, etc.
1803Syd. Smith Catteau's États Danois Wks. (1850) 51 Upon a mean of twenty-six years, it has rained for a hundred and thirty days every year. 1855J. R. Leifchild Cornwall 182 The temperature of the adit..is on an average more than 12° above the mean of the climate. 1893W. L. Dallas in Indian Meteorol. Mem. IV. 516 The means of pressure have been obtained [etc.].
II. An intermediary agent or instrument.
†9.
a. One who acts as mediator, ‘go-between’, or ambassador between others; one who intercedes for a person or uses influence on behalf of an object. to be good mean, to act as intercessor. Obs.
c1374Chaucer Troylus iii. 205 (254) For þe am I becomen..swych a mene As maken wommen vn-to men to comen. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. i. 158 A mene, as þe Maire is bitwene þe kyng and þe comune. c1386Chaucer Miller's T. 189 He woweth hire by meenes and brocage. c1440Promp. Parv. 332/2 Meene, massyngere,..internuncius. Ibid., Meene, or medyatowre,..mediator. 1455Rolls of Parlt. V. 285/1 It myght lyke the said Lieutenaunte and all the Lordes, to be goode meanes unto the Kynges Highnesse, that suche a persone myght be purveide fore. 1538in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. II. 90 That it might please your Lordship to be a meane for us to our Soveraign Lorde the Kynge is Highenes. 1562Child-Marriages 71 This deponent was desired of both parties, to be a meane that they might marie before the day appointed. 1606J. Carpenter Solomon's Solace xii. 47 She would be a meane for him to the king. 1612Bacon Ess., Suitors (Arb.) 47/1 Let a man, in the choise of his meane, rather chuse the fittest meane then the greatest meane.
†b. in pl. form, with sing. sense and const.
1554Cranmer Misc. Writ. (Parker Soc.) II. 445 In most humble wise Sueth unto your right honourable lordships, Thomas Cranmer, late Archbishop of Canterbury; beseeching the Same to be a means for me unto the queen's highness. 1559–66in Wodrow Soc. Misc. (1844) 74 The Marques of D'Albuef, the subtill meanes of the Duke of Guise. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. xx. 25 He being by them praied to be a meanes towards the Bascha. 1611Cotgr., Moyenneur, a means, mediator.
†c. spec. A mediator between God (or Christ) and man. Obs.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. viii. 183, I counseile alle cristene to crie crist merci, And Marie his Moder to beo mene bitwene. 1377Ibid. B. xv. 535 Þus in a faith lyueth þat folke and in a false mene [i.e. Mohammed]. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 409 A prest shulde be a mene bitwixe god & þe puple. 1508Fisher Penit. Ps. xxxviii. Wks. (1876) 54 O blyssed lady be thou meane & mediatrice between thy son and wretched synners. 1570T. Norton tr. Nowel's Catech. (1853) 186 We need not then, for access to God, some man to be our mean. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. l. §3 There is no union of God with man without that mean between both which is both.
10. An instrument, agency, method, or course of action, by the employment of which some object is or may be attained, or which is concerned in bringing about some result. Often contrasted with end. Often predicatively (of persons as well as things), to be the means (or † the mean) of.
a. in sing. form. Now only arch.
c1374Chaucer Troylus v. 1551 The fate wold his soule sholde vnbodye, And shapen hadde a mene it out to dryue. 1444Rolls of Parlt. V. 104/2 Be which subtile meene ye lose gret part of your custumes. 1539Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) II. 226 This..sheweth a meane howe..you may make them yet better. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 90 Yet Nature is made better by no meane, But Nature makes the Meane. 1611W. Sclater Key (1629) 243 Vncharitable is that sentence of Papists; that Baptisme is necessarie as a meane to saluation. 1635J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Banish'd Virg. 114 Dariacan himselfe had beene the instrumentall meane of my flight. 1785T. Balguy Disc. 31 Let us consider it as a mean, not as an end. 1814W. Brown Propag. Chr. among Heathen II. 402 The Mission to the South Sea Islands..has..been a powerful mean of promoting the interests of Christianity. 1881Swinburne Mary Stuart ii. i, God..procure Some mean whereby mine enemies craft and his May take no feet but theirs in their own toils.
b. in plural form and plural or doubtful sense.
by fair means: see fair a. 15. ways and means: see way n.
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 121 Þei comen bi false menys as ypocrisie & lesyngis to þes grete lordischipes. c1386Chaucer Friar's T. 186 We been goddes Instrumentz, And meenes to doon hise comandementz. 1420in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. I. 6 Lettres..chargyng me to assaye by all the menesse that I kan to exyte and stirre sych as bene able gentilmen. 1549Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Rom. 28 The eares, throughe whom as meanes the gospell of Christ is powred into the obedient soule. 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa iii. 180 [He] left no meanes unattempted for the recouerie of this citie. a1625Fletcher Cust. Country v. iv. Wonders are ceas'd Sir, we must work by meanes. 1733Pope Ess. Man iii. 82 And find the means proportioned to their end. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. III. xcvi. 341 Vehement declaimers hounded on Congress to take arbitrary means for the suppression of the practice.
c. in pl. form, with sing. sense and const.
1512in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. I. 192 A good meanys to know the trowthe..were to gyve in commandement to John Style secretli to write the trowthe. 1606G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Ivstine xxxviii. 120 Being..a means to train them vp in a secure experience to make themselues waye. 1652H. L'Estrange Amer. no Jewes 6 To be dashed and defeated by so weak a seeming means. 1750Beawes Lex Mercat. (1752) 2 Commerce..is now become an universal means..for the improvement of..fortune. 1843A. Bethune Sc. Fireside Stor. 28 You were indirectly the means of getting me introduced. 1843Mill Logic Introd. §1 Writers have availed themselves of the same language as a means of delivering different ideas. 1863C. Redding Yesterday & To-day III. 142 note, I was the means of this being done.
d. Phrases. † to make mean(s: to take steps, use efforts (obs.). to find (the) means (or † mean): to find out a way, contrive, manage (now only const. inf.).
c1386Chaucer Frankl. T. 155 How thanne may it bee That ye swiche meenes make it to destroyen, Whiche meenes do no good, but euere anoyen? 1461Paston Lett. II. 35 That Richard Calle fynde the meane that a distresse may be taken of such bestes as occupie the ground at Stratton. c1462Ibid. 107 Or hise wryting cam, Wydwell fond the meanys..that we had a discharge for hym out of the Chauncery. 1551Robinson tr. More's Utop. ii. (1895) 257 They make all the meanes and shyftes that maye be, to kepe themselfes from the necessitye of fyghtynge. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 45 Then meanes was made vpon either side for the deliuery and exchaunge of prisoners. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. viii. 8 b, I founde the meanes for moneye and withe fayre woordes to hyre a..Spaniarde. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 259 We..found meanes to pierce the vessell, and get good Wine to our ill fare. 1631Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 562 A man much renowned for..the charges he was at, and the meanes he made, to adorne..his Church.
e. means of grace (Theol.): the sacraments and other religious agencies viewed as the means by which divine grace is imparted to the soul, or by which growth in grace is promoted: in ‘Evangelical’ use often employed as a synonym for public worship. Also occas. with sing. sense, an agency conducive to spiritual improvement. under the means of grace (formerly often † under means): subject to the operation of the means of grace.
1642Rogers Naaman 5 Shall rise up and convince all beleevers, I meane such as live under meanes in that day. 1650Baxter Saint's R. iv. (1651) 8 Do we not miss Ministry and Means more passionately, then we miss our God? Ibid. 20, I know the means of grace must be loved and valued, and the usual enjoyment of God is in the use of them. 1662Bk. Com. Prayer, Thanksgiving, For the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. 1771Wesley Wks. (1872) V. 187 By ‘means of grace’ I understand outward signs, words, or actions, ordained of God,..to be the ordinary channels whereby he might convey to men, preventing, justifying, or sanctifying grace. 1833Tracts for Times No. 11. 2 The same company that are under the means of grace here. Ibid. 6 The Sacraments, which are the ordinary means of grace, are clearly in possession of the Church. 1841A. R. C. Dallas Past. Superintend. 185 The number of persons above the age of education, who ought to attend the means of grace. 1891Besant St. Katherine's x, The discourse of the preacher was on the fearful condition of those who disobey the discipline of the Church and refuse the means of Grace.
† f. pl. and collect. sing. Stratagem, trickery. Obs.
c1460Towneley Myst. xxiv. 386 By hir meanes she makys dysers to sell. c1470Henry Wallace vii. 1116 Bot he be meyne gat his castell agayne. 1537St. Papers Hen. VIII, I. 548 Ne any brogges or meanes, that any of those borderers or any other, canne make. 1602Warner Alb. Eng. ix. liii. (1612) 237 Nor is through Meed, or Means, the weak betraied to the strong.
g. means-end(s) (used attrib.): of or pertaining to the ways of achieving a result considered together with the result.
1933Psychol. Rev. XL. 60 The ‘means-end-readiness’ Tolman defined as a certain selectivity as regards stimuli, and as regards the responses..to such stimuli. 1951R. Firth Elem. Social Organiz. iii. 85 Structural change implies that there was some imperfection in the previous means-ends schedule of a substantial number of members of the society. 1958Listener 5 June 931/2 We must look at the contexts where the means-end model is appropriate... The second means-end context is that of making or producing things. We mix the flour in order to make a cake. 1963A. Kaplan in P. A. Schilpp Philos. R. Carnap 840 If there were a final end it could not have the derived cognitive meaning of a means-end implication. 1965H. I. Ansoff Corporate Strategy ii. 24 The two sets of rules have a means-ends relationship; objectives set the goals, and strategy sets the path to the goals. 1965Language XLI. 80 Aiming towards a means-ends model of language.
†11. A condition that permits or conduces to something; an opportunity; in early use pl. conditions, offered terms (of peace). Also in phrase in means, in a mean: ‘in a fair way’ to do something. Obs.
1430–1Rolls of Parlt. IV. 371/2 To refuse Pees offred with menes resonable. Ibid., Yf yeim thynke ye menys of Pees offred. Ibid., To offre for ye Kyngges partie menis yat shal be thought. a1552Leland Itin. VI. 2 Asscheforde Churche was in a meane to be collegiatyd by the Reqwest of one Fogge. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. i. ii. 18 Many a man would take you at your word, And goe indeede, hauing so good a meane. 1592tr. Junius on Rev. xii. 2 She seemed near unto death, and in meanes ready to give up the Ghost. 1592R. D. Hypnerotomachia 81 b, My secret thoughts consented therunto, consygning a free meane and large entrance for the discovery of my desire. a1613Overbury Charact., Worthy Commander Wks. (1856) 107 He understands in warre, there is no meane to erre twice.
12. a. pl. [= F. moyens.] The resources at (one's) disposal for effecting some object; chiefly, (a person's) pecuniary resources viewed with regard to their degree of adequacy to (his) requirements or habits of expenditure: sometimes more explicitly means of living, means of subsistence. In early use sometimes more widely: = ‘money’, ‘wealth’. man of means: one possessing a competency.
1603Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. ii. 24 Let her haue needfull, but not lauish meanes. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. i. iii. §2 Iudging that meanes were to be spent vpon learning, and not learning to be applyed to meanes. 1606G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Ivstine xvi. 66 Having meanes to corrupt tharmy of Demetrius with great rewardes. 1609E. Hoby Let. to T. H[iggons] 66, I know no man so respectlesse of himselfe, but would willinglie part with one moytie of his meanes, for his future reliefe. a1625Fletcher Cust. Country v. v, And when thou went'st, to Imp thy miserie, Did I not give thee meanes? 1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 50 If hee be a man of meanes, and likely hereafter to beare charge in his Countrey..I wishe him to Historie. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 284 Two children, who lived there upon their mothers means. 1775Sheridan Duenna ii. iii, He has never sullied his honour, which, with his title, has outlived his means. 1823Scott Peveril ii, We are great enough for our means, and have means sufficient for contentment. 1859Tennyson Enid 455 My means were somewhat broken into. 1894Wilkins & Vivian Green Bay Tree I. 11 It was very wrong for a man to live beyond his means.
†b. Formerly sometimes construed as sing.; rarely in particularized use, a livelihood. Obs.
1615Wither Sheph. Hunt. v. in Juvenilia (1633) 439, I waste my Meanes which of itself is slender. 1615R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 52 They're..men that get A slauish meanes out of a seruile wit. c1642R. Harris Hezekiah's Recovery 27 All that meanes..is little enough to buy a constant Preacher bookes and physicke.
13. Intermediary agency or condition.
†a. (Cf. sense 9.) Mediation, intercession; exercise of influence to bring about something, instigation. to make mean(s: to intercede, make interest; to negotiate with; to make overtures to. Obs.
sing.1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) IV. 239 He was sente ageyne the kynge of Araby thro meane of Cleopatra [L. ad petitionem Cleopatræ]. 1477Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 1 Thurgh the meane of the Mediatrice of Mercy. 1510Hours Bl. Virgin 91 Give us the life that ever doth excell, Through thy prayer & speciall meane. 1535Goodly Prymer L iij, They must nedes fyrst make meane vnto hym [a temporal prince] by some man that is in his fauour. 1565Satir. Poems Reform. i. 567 The mr Maxwell..to reconcile my meane, on his knees entreated me to hear [etc.]
pl.c1400Three Kings Cologne 131 Sche made grete menes to þe chefe lordys of þis yle. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 164 b, By whose suffrage, intercession & meanes we be holpen in this lyfe. 1536Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) I. 498 Youre grase hys good mens. 1591Sir H. Unton Corr. (Roxb.) 237 Great meanes have been made for him. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, i. iii. 78 Our Brother is imprison'd by your meanes. 1656Sir J. Finett For. Ambass. 191 Sir Henry Mildmay had made his meanes to the Duke of Buckingham..for carriage..of the Present designed to the Ambassador.
b. (Cf. sense 10.) Instrumentality, operation as an instrument, method, or proximate cause. Only in certain phrases: see 14.
14. Adverbial, prepositional, and conjunctional phrases.
a. by all (manner of) means: (a) in every possible way; (b) at any cost, without fail; (c) used to emphasize a permission, request, or injunction, = ‘certainly’.
(a)1491Act. 7 Hen. VII, c. 11 §1 Ye verily intendyng..to aredie yourself by all meanes to you possible..to invade upon your and our auncien ennemyes. c1520Barclay Jugurth (1557) 70 b, He..by all maner meanes made prouysion for hym selfe. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scotl. i. 129 To this end they labouret be al meines possible.
(b)1611Bible Acts xviii. 21, I must by all meanes keepe this feast. 1754Chatham Lett. Nephew 35 The trick of laughing frivolously is by all means to be avoided.
(c)1693Humours Town 31 By all means, Sir, Object and Return, as often as you please. 1774Foote Cozeners ii. Wks. 1799 II. 168 Flaw. I'll run before, and prepare Mrs. Fleece'em. Mrs. Air. By all manner of means. 1844Disraeli Coningsby iii. iii, Tell it us by all means. 1874Ruskin Fors Clav. xlii. 125 Yes, in God's name, and by all manner of means. 1895Law Times C. 101/2 By all means let the [County] Council drift rudderless.
b. by any (manner of) means (or † mean): (a) in any way, anyhow, at all; † (b) by all means.
(a)c1470Henry Wallace xi. 207 A band thai maid..to wyrk his confusioun, Be ony meyn. 1474Rolls of Parlt. VI. 117/2 Undelyvered by any meane unto you. c1520Barclay Jugurth (1557) 57 b, He lost more people by this way than by any other meane before. 1537in Lett. Suppress. Monast. (Camden) 153 In as large and ample maner and forme as ever I had or aught to have of and in the same or any part or parcell therof by ony maner of meanes. 1567J. Sandford Epictetus 24 Occasion cannot be giuen by any maner of meanes, nor any arte. 1611Bible Ps. xlix. 7 None of them can by any meanes redeeme his brother. 1809W. Irving Knickerb. v. iv. (1849) 278, I do not by any means pretend to claim the merit. 1873Ruskin Fors Clav. xlv. 193 Not by any manner of means. 1893R. Williams in H. D. Traill Soc. Eng. i. 32 She was not, however, by any means the only female deity.
(b)1610B. Jonson Alch. v. ii, Yes, tell her, She must by any meanes addresse some present To th' cunning man. 1616― Devil an Ass v. v, Mer. Yes, Sir, and send for his wife. Eve. And the two Sorcerers, By any meanes!
c. by no means (or † mean), by no manner of means (or † mean), † by no manner mean: (a) in no way, not at all; (b) on no account.
(a)1442T. Beckington Corr. (Rolls) II. 214 Your said adversary by no manner of meen may be induced to graunte us his lettres of saufcondeuct. 1472J. Paston in P. Lett. III. 35, I can not yet make my pesse wyth my Lord of Norffolk..by no meane. c1520Barclay Jugurth (1557) 40 This town could by no meanes be well besyged nor taken. 1564Brief Exam. ****ij, They are not to be reiected, as yf they were by no maner of meanes in the worde of God. 1782F. Burney Cecilia ix. i, I am by no means an approver of that mode of proceeding. 1893Gunter Miss Dividends 102 The young men are looking at each other with by no means kindly eyes. 1893Swinburne Stud. Prose & Poetry (1894) 111 Basil is by no manner of means an impeccable work of imperishable art.
(b)1509Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 123 And if hir husbande to any thinge agree By no maner meane will she therto encline. 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa iii. 161 They will by no meanes vouchsafe to marie their daughters vnto them. 1625Bacon Ess., Gard. (Arb.) 563 But these to be, by no Meanes, set too thicke. 1711Steele Spect. No. 51 ⁋1 Such an Image as this ought, by no means, to be presented to a Chaste and Regular Audience. 1864J. H. Newman Apol. 35 What word should I have used twenty years ago instead of ‘Protestant?’ ‘Roman’ or ‘Romish?’ by no manner of means. 1879M. Arnold Mixed Ess., Falkland 232 Shall we blame him for his lucidity of mind, and largeness of temper? By no means.
d. by this or that means (or † mean): (a) by means of this or that; in this or that way; thus.
c1520Barclay Jugurth (1557) 117 By this meanes shal they be muche beholden to you. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 11 That he might preferre Normans to the rule of the Church..and by that meane stand in the more suretie of his estate. 1629Maxwell tr. Herodian (1635) 372 By that meanes you shall take away that most odious and hideous tyrant Maximine. 1667Sprat Hist. R. Soc. 100 By this means, they will accomplish their main Design. 1750Beawes Lex. Mercat. (1752) 1 When by this means an aggregated number swelled to too great a magnitude..they were compelled to seek for remoter helps by commerce. 1825Coleridge Aids Refl. (1848) I. 31 By this mean, and scarcely without it, you will at length acquire a facility in detecting the quid pro quo.
† (b) In consequence, consequently.
c1520Barclay Jugurth (1557) 52 Because Iugurth was on the small hyll before hym, and by that meane on the hyer ground.
†e. by some manner of means: ‘by hook or by crook’. Obs.
1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 88 Friend, harrow in time, by some maner of meanes, not onely thy peason, but also thy beanes.
f. by or through († the) means (or † mean) of: (a) by the instrumentality of (a person or thing).
1427Rolls of Parlt. IV. 326/2 Hit belanged unto you of rygȝt, as wel be ye mene of your birth. c1450Merlin 20 Thow purchacest a-corde be-twene the and thi husbonde, by mene of the person hym-self, for to hyde yowre counseill. 1530Palsgr. 611/2 Se how moche this chambre is lyghtenned by meane of one torche. 1560A. L. tr. Calvin's Foure Serm. Songe Ezech. Epist., By meane of whose aide..he findeth himselfe holpen. 1611Bible Heb. ix. 15 By meanes of death..they which are called, might receiue the promise of eternall inheritance. 1653Ld. Vaux tr. Godeau's St. Paul A ij, Having obtained by meanes of your most noble Lady, a view of this choise piece [etc.]. 1736Butler Anal. i. ii. Wks. 1874 I. 35, I know not, that we have any one kind..of enjoyment, but by the means of our own actions. 1749Fielding Tom Jones viii. xiii, He had succeeded so far as to find me out by means of an accident. 1807Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) I. 67, I hoped that through his means you would get acquainted with Walter Scott.
† (b) In consequence of, by reason of, owing to.
1439Rolls of Parlt. V. 32/2 Hynderyng and clamour of the said diverse of your communes, be mene of the said purvyance. 1526Skelton Magnyf. 1441 That was by the menys of to moche lyberte. 1568Grafton Chron. I. 151 He also amended many things..that had beene long time out of frame, by meane of the Danes. a1626Bacon New Atl. (1900) 11 By meanes of our solitary Situation..we know well most part of the Habitable World, and are our selues vnknowne. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 320/2 By means of this cover he is very rarely wet on his Body. 1726G. Roberts Four Years' Voy. 13 He could not yet hold a Pen in his Hand by means of his late Sickness.
†g. by (the) means (that): for the reason that, because, since. Obs.
1550Crowley Last Trumpet 1083 White meate beareth a greate pryce Which some men thinke is by the meane That fermes be found such marchaundise. 1565Sparke in Hawkins' Voy. (1878) 24 But sure we were that the armie was come downe, by means that in the euening we sawe such a monstrous fire. 1596Harington Apology (1814) 36, I guessed at his meaning by means I had once some smattering of the Latin tongue. 1599― Nugæ Ant. (1804) I. 257 By means the weather falls out so monstrous wet as the like hath not been seen.
15. attrib. and Comb. as (in sense 10 c) means-maker, means-using; † mean-keeper (cf. sense 1 b), one who observes moderation; † mean-keeping, moderation; † means-making (cf. sense 13 b), intercession, use of interest or influence on a person's behalf; means test, an official inquiry into an applicant's private resources, determining or limiting a grant or allowance from public funds; also (with hyphen) as v.; hence means-testable a.; means-tested ppl. a.; means testing vbl. n.
1553N. Grimalde Cicero's Offices i. (1558) 62 In which thynges ther must doutlesse be used a measure that to a meankepyng [L. ad mediocritatem] muste be reduced. Ibid. ii. 98 Soon after Lucius Crassus with Quinctus Mutius, the greatest meanekeeper [L. moderatissimo] of all men, kept the time of their Edile office most royally. 1617Bacon Sp. on taking his place in Chancery in Resuscit. 84 It will also avoid all Means-making, or Labouring; For there ought to be no Labouring in Causes but the Labouring of the Counsell at the Barr. 1625― Apoph. §8 Wks. 1825 I. 351 His wife, by her suit and means making, made his peace. 1640Fuller Joseph's Coat, etc. 172 Looke not..on the meanes but on the Meanes-maker. 1642Rogers Naaman 146 What, but our ascribing to ourselves in our means-using, makes them so unfruitful? 1930Economist 7 June 1263/2 We should not cavil greatly at the principle of granting, on the basis of a means test, maintenance allowances for children compelled to attend school. 1935Planning II. 11 A system of Transitional Payments was introduced..subject, however, to a household ‘Means Test’ administered by the local Public Assistance Committees. 1940Manch. Guardian Weekly 23 Feb. 153/3 Non-contributory pensions, to which alone the household means test was to apply, had been conditioned by the applicant's means ever since 1908. 1957Times 31 Dec. 11/5 Provision should be made in the new scholarship scheme for giving adequate assistance to students who would be debarred under ‘means tests’ from accepting scholarships offered by the State and other sources. 1963Economist 1 June 882/2 All university awards are means-tested now. 1966Ibid. 29 Jan. 388/1 The genuinely poor long-term sick should be generously treated, preferably through generous means-tested national assistance. 1970Guardian 29 Oct. 13, 1971 is going to be a record year for means-testing... Millions of new means-test forms will have to be designed... More people..will..make the sudden move from means-tested exemption from Health Service charges to paying the full rate. 1970Daily Tel. 12 Dec. 2/6 Many of them are now living on fixed private incomes or with the aid of supplementary benefits which are means-tested. 1972Times 30 Sept. 15/4 The poorest being supported by means testable benefits. 1973Times 13 Feb. 16/7 Means-testing over a wide range of social benefits has been introduced on a scale unprecedented since the war.
▪ III. mean, n.3 colloq. rare.|miːn|
[n. use of mean a.1 5.]
A mean person; = meany.
1938E. Bowen Death of Heart ii. iv. 241 You are a mean, Dickie!
▪ IV. mean, a.1 and adv.1|miːn|
Forms: 3 meane, 3–4 mene, 4–5 meen, 5 mean.
[App. repr. (with normal loss of prefix) the earlier i-mene, OE. ᵹemǽne = OFris. gemêne, OS. gimêni (MLG. gemeine, MDu. gemêne, Du. gemeen), OHG. gimeini (MHG. gemeine, mod.G. gemein; Sw., Da. gemen from Ger.), Goth. gamains:—OTeut. *ga-maini-, f. ga- copulative prefix (synonymous with L. com-) + *maini-:—pre-Teut. *moini- in L. commūnis (:—*com-moini-s) common a.
The pre-Teut. *moini- is believed to be a ppl. derivative of the root *mei-, moi- (as in L. mūtāre:—*moitāre) to change, whence L. mūnus (:—*moinos-) reward, gift, and perh. (with the notion of change for the worse) OTeut. *maino- wicked, man a.
The primary sense of Teut. *gamaini-, as of L. commūnis, is ‘possessed jointly’, ‘belonging equally to a number of persons’. In OE., and in the early stages of the other Teut. languages, this was substantially the only sense; but in ME., as in Du. and Ger., it underwent a development corresponding to that of common a., so that it acquired the senses of ‘ordinary’, ‘not exceptionally good’, ‘inferior’. In English this development was furthered by the fact that the native word coincided in form with the word adopted from OF. meien, meen (see mean a.2) middle, ‘middling’, which was often used in a disparaging or reproachful sense. The uses in branch II below might be referred almost equally well to the native and to the foreign adj.; the truth is prob. that they are of mixed ancestry.
It is often supposed that the sense-development of the word has been influenced by OE. mǽne false, wicked (cogn. w. mán man n.2 and a.); but this does not seem possible, as this adj. did not survive into ME., while the moral senses of mean do not appear before the mod.Eng. period.]
A. adj.
I.
1. Common to two or more persons or things; possessed jointly. in mean: in common. to go mean: to act as partners, to share. Obs. exc. dial. (see E.D.D.).
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 179 Al þat hie bi ben, hie hauen of here [sc. underlinges] mene swinche. a1240Sawles Warde in Cott. Hom. 261 Sei us nu hwuch blisse is to alle iliche meane. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xiii. 59 Þai hald a lawe in meen betwene vs and þe Grekez. a1598D. Ferguson Prov. (1785) 6 A mein pot plaid never even. 1730P. Walkden Diary (1866) 94 That we would go mean at ploughing. Ibid. 116 We concluded to get John Dickenson to measure our ground we had plowed mean.
II. Inferior in rank or quality.
†2.
a. Of persons, their rank or station: Undistinguished in position; of low degree; often opposed to noble or gentle. (Cf. common a. 12.) Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 13272 Nu ches felaus wil he bigin, Bot noght o riche kinges kin,..Bot mene men o pour lijf. c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 168 Þe mene folk (comonly fulle gode men & wise) Com to his mercy. ― Chron. Wace (Rolls) 11202 Þe legat; and oþer bischopes of mener stat. c1420Liber Cocorum (1862) 7 Take black sugur for mener menne. 1483Caxton G. de la Tour A viij b, Therfor my fayre daughters shewe your curtosye unto the mene and smal peple. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 154 The Commons (specially such as were of the meaner sort) cryed vpon Thomas fitz Thomas. 1586J. Hooker Hist. Irel. in Holinshed II. 128/1 The opinion..and judgement of a meane burgesse, is of as great availe as is the best lords. 1600Dekker Gentle Craft Wks. 1873 I. 19 O love, how powerfull art thou, that canst change..a noble mind To the meane semblance of a shoomaker. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. v. 82 These hands do lacke Nobility, that they strike A meaner then my selfe. a1626Bacon Chr. Paradoxes Wks. 1879 I. 341 He bears a lofty spirit in a mean condition. 1675Evelyn Diary 22 Mar., Sir William [Petty] was the sonn of a meane man some where in Sussex. 1701De Foe True-born Eng. 35 The meanest English Plowman studies Law. 1774Chesterfield's Lett. (1792) I. xliv. 141 A mean fellow..is ashamed when he comes into good company. 1827Roberts Voy. Centr. Amer. 225 The meanest persons smoke tobacco.
transf.1752Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 198 Where women..are bought and sold, like the meanest animal. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) II. 9 As to animals of a meaner rank..they very soon alter their natures with the nature of their nourishment.
†b. Poor, badly off. Obs.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. Prol. 18 Alle maner of men the mene and the riche. 1558in Strype Ann. Ref. (1709) I. App. iv. 5 Of..Men meaner in substance. 1685Bunyan Bk. Boys & Girls (repr.) 1 Thou shalt not steal, though thou be very mean. a1707Bp. Patrick Autobiog. (1839) 11 My father was so mean then, he could not otherwise maintain me. 1776Adam Smith W.N. i. xi. (1869) I. 162 The circumstances of gardeners, generally mean, and always moderate.
c. Inferior, ‘poor’, in ability, learning, etc. Obs. exc. in phr. (to) the meanest understanding (capacity, etc.) and as in 4.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 93 Þe comyn lettre of Mathew is ful skars for mene men myȝte vnderstonde. 1590Stockwell Rules Construct. A iv, Most cleare and easie for the capacitie of the verie meanest. 1621R. Brathwait Nat. Embassie Ded., The meanest Menalchas that is able to play upon an oaten pipe. 1678(title) Cockers Arithmetick, being a plain and familiar Method suitable to the meanest capacity. 1711Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 133 A mean man, and..altogether unqualify'd for a Critick. 1719F. Haer Ch. Authority Vind. 39 Many [parts of Scripture] are plain and easy to the meanest understanding. 1738Neal Hist. Purit. IV. 347 Most of them were very mean Divines.
†d. Of conditions: Abject, debased. Obs.
c1680Beveridge Serm. (1729) II. 547 Our frail and mean condition..requires us to pray always.
e. mean white: a term of contempt applied to the poor and landless white men in the Southern United States, who in the days of slavery were regarded by the Negroes as inferior to themselves.
1837H. Martineau Soc. Amer. II. 311 There are a few, called by the slaves ‘mean whites’, signifying whites who work with the hands.
transf.1887Rider Haggard Jess iv, You must have a gentleman. Your mean white will never get anything out of a Kafir.
f. U.S. colloq. In low spirits or poor state of health; poorly, not quite well.
1857‘Dow, Jr.’ Dow's Patent Sermons 1st Ser. 7 As mean..as a rooster in a thundershower. 1911H. S. Harrison Queed vii. 90 Mebbe you could do better writing and harder writing if only you didn't feel so mean. 1911J. F. Wilson Land Claimers i. 21 ‘Feel pretty mean,’ the packer asked him kindly.
3. Of things:
a. Poor in quality; of little value; inferior. Now chiefly N. Amer. (colloq.), of domestic animals or things in general: poor in quality or condition; comparatively worthless; unpleasant, disagreeable.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. vi. 185 Lete hem ete with hogges,..Or elles melke and mene ale. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. vii. §24 The Fortifications were very mean to endure a form'd siege. 1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 260 Although the Bream be esteem'd as a mean Fish. 1766Compl. Farmer s.v. Vinegar, The cyder (the meanest of which will serve the purpose) is first to be drawn off fine. 1770Langhorne Plutarch's Lives (1879) II. 1059/1 Those poor Caunians had about two quarts of bad water in a mean bottle. 1817in Trans. Illinois State Hist. Soc. 1910 148 Hogs in this Country are the meanest that I have ever seen... I do not believe you ever see half so mean hogs as we have here. 1823W. Faux Memorable Days Amer. 219 The horses here are nearly all mean,..dwarfish things. 1842C. M. Kirkland Forest Life I. 140 You've had a pretty mean time, I reckon. a1890in Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang (1890) II. 49/1 The night was dark and stormy, about as mean a night as was ever experienced in Washington. 1936Ade Let. 29 Apr. (1973) 192 We arrived home on the 17th without mishap and almost immediately ran into mean weather including one snow fall which completely covered the ground. 1948‘N. Shute’ No Highway ix. 245 Eight handles it [sc. a coffin] had, for carrying, but gee, that was a mean load. 1973Kingston (Ontario) Whig-Standard 11 Aug. 7/5 That was just about the meanest electric storm I ever sat through.
b. Petty, unimportant; inconsiderable. ? Obs.
1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. viii. 41 Foure other officers..to looke vnto the old and new buildings, and other meane & pollitike affayres [Fr. et autres menuz affaires politiques]. 1599Warn. Faire Wom. ii. 1510 For such a fault too meane a recompence. 1726Leoni Alberti's Archit., Life 2 He cou'd discourse..of common and mean things with..pleasantness. 1745De Foe's Eng. Tradesman II. xlix. 220 The cider trade may perhaps be thought a trifle too mean to be mentioned here. 1754Gray Pleasure 49 The meanest flowret of the vale. [1807Wordsw. Ode Intim. Immort., The meanest flower that blows.]
c. Undignified, low. Of literary style, etc.: Wanting in elevation; formerly sometimes without reproachful sense, † unambitious, unadorned.
a1400–50Alexander 3464 Al be þe metire bot mene þus mekill haue I ioyned. a1568R. Ascham Scholem. ii. (Arb.) 144 The meter and verse of Plautus and Terence be verie meane. 1586A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 8 An Epistle..should..be simple, plaine, and of the lowest & meanest stile. 1610Shakes. Temp. iii. i. 4. 1650 Marvell Horatian Ode 57 He nothing common did or mean, Upon that memorable scene. 1659Hammond On Ps. lx. 6 The wash-pot, we know, is a mean part of household-stuffe. 1676Evelyn Diary 19 July, Sir William Sanderson..author of two large but meane histories of King Iames and King Charles the First. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 168 ⁋3 A mean term never fails to displease him to whom it appears mean. 1789Burney Hist. Mus. III. i, In these Lamentations..the poetry is too mean and gloomy for any but modern saints or methodists. 1823Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Poor Relations, He will thrust in some mean and unimportant anecdote of the family.
d. Of buildings, attire, ornament, personal appearance, etc.: The reverse of imposing, shabby.
1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa iii. 156 A suburbe..the houses whereof are but meane, and the inhabitants base. 1769De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. (ed. 7) II. 4 Camelford is a mean but ancient Borough-town. 1855S. Brooks Aspen Crt. I. x. 142 Around which the meaner houses and shops of the present day clustered. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xvii. 92 The robes of state..made all that France..had beheld of the same kind seem mean by comparison. 1874J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Churches 245 Let not your altar be mean and your stove conspicuous.
¶4. no mean ―: often = ‘no contemptible’, applied eulogistically to a person or thing.
1596Shakes. Merch. V. i. ii. 7 (1st Qo 1600) It is no meane [1623 smal] happinesse therefore to be seated in the meane. 1611Bible Acts xxi. 39 A citizen of no meane citie. 1678Butler Hud. iii. iii. 245 Hence timely Running's no mean part Of Conduct, in the Martial Art. 1708J. Philips Cyder i. 589 The Roman Legions and great Cæsar found Our Fathers no mean Foes. 1791Boswell Johnson (1831) I. 136 His correspondence with him, during many years, proves that he had no mean opinion of him. 1875E. White Life in Christ ii. xvii. (1878) 224 note, Mr. Cox, himself no mean Rabbinical scholar, adds [etc.].
5. a. Of persons, their characters and actions: Destitute of moral dignity or elevation; ignoble, small-minded.
1665Boyle Occas. Refl. iv. xii. (1848) 243 The Sublimity of such a Condition would make any Soul, that is not very mean, despise many mean things. 1724Ramsay Vision xi, He..did me rebuke, For being of sprite sae mein. 1734Pope Ess. Man iv. 282 Think how Bacon shin'd, The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind. 1741Middleton Cicero I. vi. 449 A mean submission to illegal power. 1768Sterne Sent. Journ. (1778) II. 39 (Address), How many mean plans..did my servile heart form! 1771Junius Lett. xlix, The meanest and the basest fellow in the kingdom. 1815W. H. Ireland Scribleomania 25 Rhymsters who..meanest actions eulogize. 1830D'Israeli Chas. I, III. viii. 187 Charles the Second..was mean enough to suspend her pension. 1874Green Short Hist. viii. §2. 469 James had meaner motives for his policy of peace than a hatred of bloodshedding. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. III. xcv. 336 Good citizens who were occupied in..more engrossing ways, allowed politics to fall into the hands of mean men.
b. orig. U.S. colloq. In trivial applications: ‘Disobliging, pettily offensive or unaccommodating’ (Cent. Dict.). Also, to feel mean: to feel ashamed of one's conduct, to feel guilty of unfairness or unkindness.
(a)1839Marryat Diary Amer. Ser. i. II. 224 Mean is occasionally used for ashamed. ‘I never felt so mean in all my life’. 1841‘Dow, Jr.’ Short Patent Sermons 78 [One girl] thought me real mean for uttering such super-diabolical sentiments. 1891R. T. Cooke Huckleberries 14 It would be awful mean of me to leave you here alone.
(b)1862R. H. Newell Orpheus C. Kerr Papers 1st Ser. ii. 21, I see he felt powerful mean, so I walked up to him. 1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xli. 421 [She] tucked me in, and mothered me so good I felt mean.
c. U.S. slang. Of a horse, etc.: Vicious.
1848Georgia Scenes 27 He'll cut the same capers there as here. He's a monstrous mean horse. 1887F. Francis Jun. Saddle & Mocassin 146 He [a cowboy] gets all-fired mean sometimes when he's full. 1888Roosevelt in Century Mag. Oct. 836/1 There can be no greater provocation than is given by a ‘mean’ horse or a refractory steer.
d. colloq. (orig. U.S.). Remarkably clever, adroit, etc.; excellent; formidable.
1920H. C. Witwer in Collier's 15 May 6/3 Everything was jake until K. O. Krouse shook a mean dice and win $28 from Battlin' Lewis on the way to Toledo. Ibid. 57/2 You never heard tell of Kane Halliday?.. The big.. football star, the weights thrower..what they call a round⁓about athalete? You know, one of them bimbos which flings a wicked spear and hurls a mean hammer and that there stuff, get me? Ibid. 62/2 Your wonder child may pack a mean wallop. 1924Ladies' Home Jrnl. Feb. 21/1 ‘That Lucy Layman sure does shake a mean foot,’ began Edmond airily. 1931D. Runyon Guys & Dolls (1932) iii. 64 She swings a very mean skillet, and gets me up some very tasty fodder. 1963Economist 23 Nov. 775/2 Mr. Ronnie Scott..plays a mean saxophone. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Jan. 34/7 He blows a mean trumpet and sings well, too. 1973Observer 9 Sept. 30/3 Does a mean goulash, taught him by his grandmother and perfected in Hungary. 1973Listener 25 Oct. 578/2 Jack Palance smokes a mean cigar in Oklahoma Crude.
6. Penurious, wanting in liberality, ‘stingy’.
1755–1822 [implied in meanness1 5]. 1860in Worcester. 1872T. L. Cuyler Heart-Culture 96 The meanest of misers is he who hoards a truth. 1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. xxxv, At least he is not mean about money.
7. a. Comb.: parasynthetic, as mean-apparelled, mean-conditioned, mean-faced, mean-gifted, mean-souled, mean-spirited, mean-witted adjs.; whence mean-spiritedness, etc.; predicative, as mean-born, mean-looking adjs; adverbial, as † mean-dressed adj.
1534More Comf. agst. Trib. i. xii. (1847) 40 Mean-witted men. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. i. 335 Let pale-fac't feare keepe with the meane-borne man. 1596― Tam. Shr. iii. ii. 75 Oftentimes he goes but meane-apparel'd. a1620J. Dyke Worthy Commun. (1640) 81 Shall a poore, mean conditioned woman refuse the offer of a Rich husband. a1683Oldham Poet. Wks. (1686) 103 Mean-soul'd offenders now no honours gain. 1694F. Bragge Disc. Parables viii. 293 Away with that mean-spirited religion. 1699M. Henry Meekness of Spirit (1822) 63 Meekness is commonly despised as a piece of cowardice and mean-spiritedness. 1740–87Lett. Miss Talbot etc. (1808) 19 A mean dressed man got into a tree, and from thence harangued them. 1782F. Burney Cecilia v. vi., Here a mean-looking man..came up to Mr. Hobson. 1824T. Fenby Refl. iii, Fortune's meaner-gifted, homely maids. 1918Mrs. Belloc Lowndes Out of the War? 211 Thin, mean-faced, yet sharply intelligent-looking man. 1953E. S. Grenfell in C. K. Stead N.Z. Short Stories (1966) 69 A shiftless, mean-faced fellow.
†B. adv.1 = meanly. Obs.
a1626Bacon Chr. Paradoxes Wks. 1879 I. 341 When he is ablest, he thinks meanest of himself. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 553 If he fed them meaner than he was fed himself..they must fare very coarsely indeed. 1861O. W. Norton Army Lett. (1903) 26 Virginia has acted meaner than South Carolina.
▪ V. mean, a.2 and adv.2|miːn|
Forms: 4–6 men, 4–5 meene, 4–6 mene, 4–7 meane, 5 meen, meyn, 5–6 meyne, mæne, meaine, Sc. meine, 6–7 Sc. mein, 5– mean. See also mesne, moyen.
[a. OF. men, meen, meien, moien (mod.F. moyen) = Pr. meian, Sp., Pg. mediano, It. mezzano:—late L. mediānus that is in the middle, f. medius middle: see mid a.]
A. adj.
†1.
a. Occupying a middle or an intermediate place in order of enumeration or in spatial position. mean term (Logic) = ‘middle term’. Obs.
1340Ayenb. 122 And al alsuo ase ine heuene heþ þri stages of uolke..huer-of þe on is heȝere þe oþer men þe þridde loȝest. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 270 Crist, mene persone in trinyte. 1435Rolls of Parlt. IV. 493/1 To repaire unto Pruce, and to the Townes of the mene Hans. 1541R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. E ij, The places called lacune..be in the meane ventrycle. 1541Act 33 Hen. VIII, c. 15 Al places meane betwene Manchester and Westchester. 1727–52Chambers Cycl., Medium, in logic, or medium of a syllogism, called also the mean, or middle term. 1822G. Rolando Fencing (ed. Forsyth) 100 The Counter of Carte parade..parries, the wrist in the mean position inclined outside the arm, the following thrusts.
†b. Mus. Applied to the tenor and alto parts and the tenor clef, as intermediate between the bass and treble. Obs.
1597Morley Introd. Mus. 17 An example of augmentation..in the Treble and Meane parts. 1674Playford Skill Mus. i. i. 2 Three several Parts of Musick, into which the Scale is divided, first the Bass,..secondly, the Mean, or middle part, and thirdly the Treble. 1721A. Malcolm Treat. Mus. xi. 333 The Treble or g Clef is ordinarily set on the 2d Line..and the mean or c Clef on the 3d Line... The mean Clef which most frequently changes Place.
†c. in the mean way: on the way, in the course of one's journey. Obs.
1568Grafton Chron. II. 559 The Erle of Arundell..departed to Mauns, and in the meane way, tooke the Castels of Mellay and saint Laurence. Ibid. 563 In the meane way they encountered with syr Thomas Kiriell [etc.]. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 837 In the meane way they passed by the Tapemiry Paraibæ [etc.].
2. Intermediate in time; coming between two points of time or two events; intervening. Now only in phrases in the mean time, while (see meantime, meanwhile); formerly, in the same sense, † in the mean season, space, way. Also with omission of prep., † the mean season, † mean space; and meantime, meanwhile advs.
1464Rolls of Parlt. V. 569/2 Aswell for the sustentation of youre people of the seid Townes, as of all youre people of youre Shires in the mean waye. c1500Melusine 347 And þat meane sayson came two knightes to Lucembourgh. 1519Interl. Four Elem. (Percy Soc.) 50 And for lacke of mynstrelles, the mean season, Now wyll we begyn to syng. 1532More Conf. Tindale Wks. 460/1 In the meane waye marke me this. 1539Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) II. 216, I have in this meane space devised a fourme of Instructions for Mr. Sadleyer. 1600Maydes Metam. v. in Bond Lyly's Wks. (1902) III. 386 Meane space, vpon his Harpe will Phœbus play. 1606G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Ivstine vi. 32 Meane space word was brought that Agesilaus was very neere at hand. 1627J. Carter Plain Expos. 112 When the performance of Gods promise is long delayed, and nothing almost appeareth in the meane season,..then [etc.]. a1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. 305 There was no mean portion of Time between their Formation and Animation,..they were living Beings..as soon as they were formed. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) III. 83 In the mean space..Jenkins had his right leg..carried off by a cannon shot.
3. Law. Intermediate, either in time or status. Usually spelt mesne.
1439Rolls of Parlt. V. 15/2 To be holden mene betwene ye date of ye seide Writ, and ye day of ye returne yerof. 1509–10Act 1 Hen. VIII, c. 12 §2 They..shall nott be restored to any meane issues or Profyttes of Landes. 1535Act 27 Hen. VIII, c. 22 The lordes immediat & thother meane lords haue not put the..acte in dewe and plaine execucion. 1548W. Stanford King's Prerog. (1567) 84 b, The king shal haue the meane issues. 1670Pettus Fodinæ Reg. 20 It is good for Princes, and even for mean Lords, to keep a Claim to their Prerogatives and Customes. 1700Col. Rec. Pennsylv. II. 9 Griffith Jones, first purchaser and Henry Elfrith mean purchaser under him complain. 1707E. Chamberlayne Pres. St. Eng. ii. ii. 78 If the mean Patron present not in due Time.., the Right of Presentation comes to the King.
†4. Intermediary; employed as an agent or ‘go-between’; serving as a means or instrument; done for an ulterior end; intervening as part of a process. Also mean way: the course adopted to achieve an end. Obs.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. ix. 112 Þe wyf was made þe weye for to help worche, And þus was wedloke ywrouȝt with a mene persone. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 278 Þat þe sotil amortasynge of seculer lordischipis þat is don bi menene [? read mene] hondis in fraude of þe statute be visely enquyred. 1382― Gen. xlii. 23 Bi a mene persone vndoynge both the langagis [L. per interpretem]. c1440Jacob's Well 205 Bothe þe theef & þe rauenere owyn to aske forȝifnesse slely be hem-self, or be an-oþer meen persone. c1449Pecock Repr. iii. ix. 332 Crist ȝaf mediatli, (that is to seie, bi meene ȝiftis to his clergie,) the endewing of immouable godis. 1451Paston Lett. I. 215, I proferid hym..ye wold..leve a summe if he wold a named it in a mene mannys hand, and seche as he hath trust to. 1509Fisher Funeral Serm. C'tess Richmond Wks. (1876) 296 Oftentymes by herself she wolde..courage euery of them to doo well. And somtyme by other meane persones. 1549Ridley Let. to Somerset in R. Potts Liber Cantabr. (1855) i. 245–6 No faut can be found ether in hir entent or in the mean ways whearby she wrought to accomplishe the same. 1563Homilies ii. Peril of Idolatry iii. (1859) 228 To be mean intercessors and helpers to God. 1615Crooke Body of Man 55 The mutation or change of bloud into a bone, cannot be accomplished but by long interpolation and many meane alterations.
5. a. Intermediate in kind, quality, or degree. Now rare.
1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 3187 Þa er veniel synnes þat may falle, Bathe grete and smale, and men with-alle. 1375Barbour Bruce vi. 347 For-thi has vorschip sic renoune That it is mene [ed. Hart mid] betuix thai tua [sc. ‘fule-hardyment’ and ‘cowardiss’]. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. vii. (1495) 865 Aristotle rehercith thise fyue meane coloures by name: and callith the fyrste yelowe and the seconde cytryne and the thyrde red the fourth purpure and the fyfthe grene. 1551Turner Herbal. i. (1568) 12 Venus heyre is in mean tempre betwene hote and colde. 1587Harrison Eng. i. vi. 14/1 in Holinshed, Ours is a meane language, and neither too rough nor too smooth in vtterance. 1601Holland Pliny II. 328 Of this Sinopis..there be three kindes, the deepe red, the pale or weake red, and the meane between both. 1610Willet Hexapla Dan. 297 The meane opinion betweene these is the best. 1656Stanley Hist. Philos. iv. (1701) 134/2 Of affections, some are pleasant, some harsh and troublesome, some mean:..the mean are neither good nor ill. 1703T. N. City & C. Purchaser 131 Sculpture..wherein the Figure sticks out from the Plain whereon it is Engraven,..according as it is more or less protuberant, is call'd..Bas-relief, Mean-relief, or High-relief. 1871Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. i. Vauvenargues (1878) 20 We must take them in pairs to find out the mean truth. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. III. c. 414 Many experiments may be needed before the true mean course between these extremes is discovered.
†b. mean way [= L. via media]: a middle course (as an escape from a proposed alternative).
c1374Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 286 Ther ben non other mene weyes newe. c1400Rom. Rose 4844 Men this thenken..That lasse harm is..Disceyve them, than disceyved be..wher they ne may Finde non other mene wey. c1407Lydg. Reas. & Sens. 4667 Ther was non other mene weye. 1706Z. Cradock Serm. Charity (1740) 17 All the mean way partakes more or less..of both the opposite extreams.
†c. spec. (a) said of the middle condition between extremes of fortune; (b) said of the married state as contrasted with continence on the one hand and unchastity on the other. Obs.
c1540R. Morice in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 24 If he coulde not lyve chast..he shoulde tak a wif and lyve a meane lyf. a1541Wyatt in Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 83 (title) Of the meane and sure estate.
6. Not far above or below the average; moderate, mediocre, middling.
†a. Of or with reference to size, stature, or age.
c1374Chaucer Troylus v. 806 Criseyde mene was of here stature. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxv. (1495) 134 In foure foted beestes wyth thycke bodyes and meane thyes, the necke is shorte grete and moche strengthe of suche bestes is in the necke. 1484Caxton Fables of æsop vi. xvi, A man of a meane age whiche tooke two wyues. 1490― Eneydos xxix. 112 A meane noose, not to grete nor to lytell, wythout ouer grete openynge. 1544T. Phaer Regim. Lyfe (1553) H viij, Geue..at euery time the quantity of a meane chesnutte. a1548Hall Chron. Hen. IV 32 b, This kyng was of a mean stature wel proporcioned and formally compact. 1575–6in Nichols Progr. Eliz. (1823) II. 2, Two mene perles pendaunte. 1579–80Ibid. 290 A snake with a meane white saphire on the hedd. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 13 b, Of a meane age, that he be not vnwylling to woorke for youth, nor vnable to trauayle for age. 1657W. Coles Adam in Eden liii, It is of the height and bignesse of a mean tree. 1697W. Dampier Voy. (1729) I. 395 Their Noses of a mean bigness.
†b. Having some quality in moderate degree. Of wines: ? Moderate in alcoholic strength. Of the voice: Moderately loud. Of soil: Moderately fertile. Obs.
c1420Pallad. on Husb. i. 79 Yf hit [mould] be lene, hit gooth in al and more; Yf hit be mene [L. mediocris], hit wol be with the brinke. c1450Lydg. & Burgh Secrees 2647 Meene in voys neythir to grete nor smalle, Signe is of trewthe and rightwysnesse. 1542Boorde Dyetary x. (1870) 255 Meane wynes, as wynes of Gascony, Frenche wynes, & specyally Raynysshe wyne that is fyned, is good with meate. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 25 After a croppe of Rye in meane ground, you shall haue the same yeere great Rapes. 1607Norden Surv. Dial. v. 233, I have seene thistles in meane ground. 1679T. Puller Moder. Ch. Eng. (1843) 115 A voice mean and grave, fit to excite devotion
†c. Moderate in amount, or in degree of excellence; tolerable, mediocre. (In later use only with disparaging implication, and so coincident with mean a.1) Obs.
c1460Towneley Myst. ii. 111 My wynnyngis ar bot meyn, No wonder if that I be leyn. 1494Fabyan Chron. vi. cxciv. 197 She was..but of meane fayrenesse as other women were. 1546Yorks. Chantry Surv. (Surtees) II. 213 Of honest qualities and condicions, and meane lerenyng. 1551Robinson tr. More's Utop. ii. (1895) 171 The resydewe they sell at reasonable and meane price. 1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 308 Let thy apparell be but meane, neyther too braue..nor too base. 1600Holland Livy xlii. lxvi. 1155 The Consull contenting himselfe with a meane good hand..retired with his forces into the campe. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. xxxiii. 299 In that countrie it is but a meane wealth. a1628Preston New Covt. (1634) 24 It is better for thee..to have meane gifts, than to have high gifts. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. ii, My own house..where I should see there had been but mean improvements.
†d. Using moderation; temperate. Obs.
c1425Eng. Conq. Irel. 88 He was..[of] mete, & of drynke ful meen & for-berynge.
7. Math.
a. Of an amount or value: Having such a relation to the amounts or values occurring in a given set of instances that the algebraical sum of their differences from it is zero; that is an arithmetical mean. Hence used (as in mean motion, mean diameter, mean distance, mean temperature, etc.) in concord with a designation of variable concrete quantity, to express the mean value of this. mean sun: a fictitious sun, supposed for purposes of calculation to move in the celestial equator at the mean rate of the real sun. mean (solar) time: the time of day as it would be shown by the ‘mean sun’ (the time shown by an ordinary correctly regulated clock); so mean noon, etc. mean square: the (arithmetical) mean of the squares of a set of numbers; mean-square deviation (mean-square error, † error of mean square): the mean of the squares of the differences between a set of numbers and some fixed number; usu. identical with the variance; formerly, † the square root of this (usu. identical with the standard deviation). Cf. mean tone (Mus.).
c1391Chaucer Astrol. ii. §44 The residue is the mene mote for the same day and the same houre. 1694Holder Disc. Time 20 According to the Mean Motion of the Sun. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Mean Motion or Mean Longitude of the Sun, in the Ptolomaick Hypothesis, is an Ark of the Ecliptick, reckoned from the Beginning of Aries to the Line of the Sun's Mean Motion. 1709J. Ward Yng. Math. Guide (1734) 455 By the Bung and Head Diameters, find such a mean Diameter as you judge will Reduce the propos'd Cask to a Cylinder. 1742–3Ld. Hervey in Johnson's Debates (1787) II. 309 The produce of the customs was the last year less by half a million than the mean revenue. 1743Emerson Fluxions 299 If the mean Radius of the Earth be 21000000, then [etc.]. 1798Malthus Popul. (1817) I. 470 In the Pays de Vaud the lowest mean life..is 29½ years. 1845Encycl. Metrop. II. 460, k′ and k{pp} are approximately found by taking the actual mean, and the actual mean square, of a large number of observed durations. Again, the mean risk of error in estimating a single duration is ·39894√[(k{pp} - k′2) {div} s]. 1860Maury Phys. Geog. Sea (Low) v. §282 Rain-gauges will give us the mean annual rain-fall. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 200 The constant temperature being nearly the mean temperature of the surface. 1878Petrie in Jrnl. Anthrop. Inst. (1879) VIII. 113 The circle divided into equal squares is apparently not so accurate, the mean error being 7 inches on 130 feet. 1894Error of mean square [see deviation 2 d]. 1956A. A. Townsend Struct. Turbulent Shear Flow iii. 44 The contributions to the mean-square rate of strain of the eddies larger than 1/k come mostly from values of E(k′) for k′ near k. 1968R. A. Lyttleton Mysteries Solar Syst. vii. 245 This regrouping of the equations of condition..results in a further reduction of the number of unknowns at the price..of increasing the mean-square error associated with each equation. 1970S. Brandt Statistical & Computational Methods vi. 83 A sum of squares..divided by the number of degrees of freedom is called the mean square or more explicitly the mean-square deviation... Its square root (which has the dimension of the measured quantity, i.e. the mean) has the lengthy name root-mean-square deviation.
b. mean proportional: the middle one of three quantities, of which the first has the same ratio to the second as the second has to the third. extreme and mean ratio (or † proportion): see extreme a. 1 b.
Originally mean was the n. and proportional the adj. (cf. F. moyenne proportionnelle); but as the expression is now apprehended the functions of the words are reversed.
1571Digges Pantom., Math. Treat. viii. X iij b, The Ooctaedrons side is meane proportionall betweene the diameter and semidiameter of the circumscribing sphere. 1608R. Norton tr. Stevin's Disme D iij b, Seeke the meane proportionall betweene BM and his 10 part BR.
†8. Gram. Of a verb: In the middle voice, reflexive. Obs.
1530Palsgr. Introd. 33 The mean verbes have also thre dyvers sortes of conjugations. Ibid. 632/2. 1583 Fulke Defence v. 151 Πληροῦµαι..is often taken passiuely: But seeing it is also found to be a verbe meane, who neede to be afraide to vse it actiuely?
B. adv.
†1. Moderately; also, comparatively less. Obs.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. ii. (1495) 595 By crafte of tyllynge..pome garnade is made meane soure. 1535Joye Apol. Tindale (Arb.) 20 Printed the new testament in a mean great volume. 1565Jewel Def. Apol. (1611) 101 A mean learned man may vnderstand it wel enough. 1576Baker Jewell of Health 231 b, When out of this you shall have drawne a cuppe meane full,..distyll it againe in Balneo Mariæ. 1612W. Sclater Minister's Portion 42 The meane wealthy amongst their people.
2. Intermediately (in time or character).
1548W. Stanford King's Prerog. (1567) 47 For that that hee that is outlawed was emprisoned meane betweene the awardynge of the exigent and the outlawrie pronounced. 1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. i. 54 They in going meane betwene the Philosophers opinions and the heauenly doctrine are plainly deceiued. 1577–87Holinshed Chron. III. 1243/1 Which office it seemeth that he had, meane betweene the twelfe and the foureteenth yeare of the said king. a1625Sir H. Finch Law (1636) 46 Any such thing done meane betwixt the verdict and the iudgement. 1642tr. Perkins' Prof. Bk. xi. §837. 38 If meane, after the first demand and before the latter end of the moneth the lessor doe happen to come.
▪ VI. mean, v.1|miːn|
Pa. tense and pa. pple. meant |mɛnt|. Forms: 1 mǽnan, 3 mæinen, 3–7 mene, meane, 4 men, meen, 4–5 meene, 4–6 meine, Sc. meyn(e, 5 menne, 6–7 mein, 6– mean. pa. tense. α. 1 mǽnde, 3 mende, 4 meenede, mennede, 4–5 mened, 4–6 Sc. menit, -yt, 5 menyd, 6 Sc. meynd, meind, me(i)nit, 6–9 meaned, (6 Sc. -it); β. 4–5 mente, 4–7 ment, 6– meant. pa. pple. α. 1 (ᵹe)mǽned, 5 meened, 6–9 meaned; β. 4–5 yment, 5 imente, imeynt; 4–5 mente, 4–7 ment, 6– meant.
[Com. WGer.: OE. mǽnan = OFris. mêna to signify, OS. mênian to intend, signify, make known (MLG., MDu. mênen, mod.Du. meenen), OHG. meinen to have in mind (hence also, to love), to intend, signify, make known, mention (MHG. and mod.G. meinen, now chiefly, to have in one's mind, to hold or express an opinion); cf. the compounds, OS. gimênian to make known, OHG. gemeinen to proclaim, show forth, bimeinen to decree, destine, dedicate (whence bimeinida testament). The Scandinavian forms, Icel. meina, Sw. mena, Da. mene, are from Low German.
The W.Ger. *mainjan is cogn. w. OFris. mêne opinion, OHG. meina fem., ? opinion (found only in Otfrid in certain phrases, thia meina, bî thia meina, etc., meaning ‘verily’, ‘forsooth’). Outside Teut., the OSl. formal equivalent, měniti, exhibits an extraordinarily close parallelism of meaning, having all the varied senses of the OE. and OS. verb. The ultimate etymology and the order of sense-development are doubtful; the prevailing view that the root is *men- to think (see mind n.) would account plausibly for all the recorded senses, but involves phonological difficulties that have not been satisfactorily disposed of.]
1. a. trans. To have in mind as a purpose or intention; to purpose, design. Chiefly with inf. as obj., less frequently with clause or n.
In modern colloquial use sometimes: To intend with determined purpose.
For to mean business, mischief, see the ns.
c888K. ælfred Boeth. xxxix. §5 Þa ongan he sprecan swiðe fiorran ymbutan, swilce he na þa spræce ne mænde, & tiohhode hit ðeah þiderweardes. c1300Leg. St. Gregory 742 Þan alon sche left þer inne, Non wist what sche ment. 13..K. Alis. 5942 Thoo had kynge Alisaunder y-ment..The cee haue y-passed ayein. c1374Chaucer Troylus ii. 532 (581) And syn ye woot þat myn entent is clene, Tak hede þer-of, for I noon yuel mene. c1440York Myst. xxx. 494 A! mercy, lorde, mekely, no malice we mente. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 70 b, The Duke of Saxon, and the Lantgrave,..ment to go home. 1567Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 515 Hir Majestie menit to subvert the lawis. 1612Bacon Ess., Wisd. for Man's Self (Arb.) 184 Except they meane their seruice should bee made but the accessary. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 40 These cut-throates..meant presently to returne. 1692Dryden Cleomenes ii. i. 11 Thou art only Misplanted in a base degenerate Soil; But Nature when she made thee, meant a Spartan. 1773Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. iv, You only mean to banter me. 1845Sir C. J. Napier Conq. Scinde ii. viii. 455 The Beloochs certainly meaned to break out with a counter attack. 1895Kekewich in Law Times Rep. LXXIII. 663/2 We must not jump to the conclusion that the Legislature meant to interfere with contracts. 1904A. Griffiths Fifty Yrs. Publ. Service ii. 22 Even to my young and inexperienced eyes it seemed that the attack [on the Redan] was never ‘meant’.
†b. with ellipsis of vb. of motion. Obs.
c1470Harding Chron. ix. i, With shyppes .xii. to Italy had they mente.
†c. To aim at, direct one's way to. Obs. rare.
c1400Laud Troy Bk. 4172 Gret schame it is..That we durst neuere Troye mene. 1633G. Herbert Temple, Ch. Porch lvi, Who aimeth at the sky Shoots higher much than he that means a tree. 1706Watts Horæ Lyr. I. 100 The muse ascends her heavenly car, And climbs the steepy path and means the throne divine.
d. To design (a thing) for a definite purpose; to intend or destine (a person or thing) to a fate or use. Const. against, for, † to; rarely dat. † Also with complement, to destine to be (obs.).
a1400Octouian 1953 The old emperesse..hadde the same jugement That sche to Florance hadde y-ment. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 242 b, This warre is not ment nor prepared against the Cyties. 1580Sidney Ps. xxvii. v, When greate griefes to me be ment, In tabernacle his, he will Hide me. 1611Bible Gen. l. 20 God meant it vnto good. 1634Milton Comus 765 She [sc. Nature] good cateress Means her provision onely to the good That live according to her sober laws. 1639Shirley Gent. Ven. v. ii, Providence..made me worth a strangers piety, Whom your cho[i]ce meant the ruine of my honor. 1643Denham Cooper's Hill 325 Fair Liberty pursu'd, and meant a Prey To lawless power, here turn'd. 1792J. Barlow Conspir. Kings 83 Why to small realms for ever rest confin'd Our great affections, meant for all mankind? 1842Browning Through the Metidja v, Ere I pried, she [Fate] should hide..All that's meant me. 1884W. C. Smith Kildrostan 57, I think Fate meant us for each other. 1896A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad lxii, Say, for what were hop-yards meant, Or why was Burton built on Trent?
e. To intend (a remark, allusion, etc.) to have a particular reference. Const. † at, † by, of, † to. Also † absol. to mean by = to intend to refer to.
In the 16th c. to mean (a remark or a designation) by (a person) was the usual expression where we now say ‘to mean (such or such a person) by (a remark, etc.)’, the vb. being then in sense 2.
1513More Edw. V, Wks. 55/2 That ment he by the lordes of the quenes kindred that were taken before. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 230 b, He saied that he would leaue..suche a successour... Menyng by Tiberius. 1570Satir. Poems Reform. xix. 8 Gone is the Joy and gyde of this Natioun; I mene be James, Regent of Scotland. 1596Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 621, I do not meane this by the Princes wardes. 1641Sanderson Serm. (1681) II. 184 A flaunting hyperbole, far beyond the merit of the Party he meant it to. 1749Chesterfield Lett. (1792) II. 230 He..thinks every thing that is said meant at him. 1753Ibid. IV. 13 They are convinced that it was meant at them. a1906Mod. I wonder whether he meant it of any one in particular.
f. intr. To be (well, ill, etc.) intentioned or disposed. Const. to, by, or dat. to mean well (used ironically).
c1374Chaucer Troylus iii. 115 (164) By-sechyng hym..þat he wolde..eke mene wel to me. c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1986 But how I speke, algate I mene weel. c1440Promp. Parv. 332/2 Menyn yn herte, wel or evyl, intendo. c1450tr. De Imitatione i. xii. 13 Þouȝ we do wel & mene wel. c1590Greene Fr. Bacon vi. 9 Now shall Edward trie How Lacy meaneth to his Soueraigne Lord. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. iv. iii. 22 If you meane well Now go with me. 1628Earle Microcosm., Reseru'd Man, He..puts himselfe to a great deale of affliction to hinder their plots, and designes where they meane freely. a1680Butler Rem. (1759) I. 58 The purest Business of our Zeal Is but to err, by meaning well. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. xi, You seem to mean honestly. 1771Junius Lett. xlv. (1820) 243 They who object to [his] last letter, either do not mean him fairly, or [etc.]. 1802Beddoes Hygëia ii. 34 The projector of a new domestic medicine, meaning well by himself and the public. 1813Jane Austen Pride & Prej. III. v. 108 Perhaps she meant well, but, under such a misfortune as this, one cannot see too little of one's neighbours. 1884Rider Haggard Dawn ii, I do not think that your cousin means kindly by you. 1889F. Anstey in Granta 17 May 9/2 Still, with all their presumption, they meant well, poor fellows! 1910R. Brooke Let. 9 Jan. (1968) 206 He is a silly man... Yet he means well. 1961G. Smith Business of Loving ix. 206 Felix obviously meant well. 1973S. B. Jackman Guns covered with Flowers x. 159 He smiled apologetically, ‘He means well’. Stevens grinned. ‘And you can't say worse than that about anyone.’
2. a. trans. To intend to indicate (a certain object), or to convey (a certain sense) when using some word, sentence, significant action, etc. Sometimes with clause as obj. In mod. use often const. by.
c888K. ælfred Boeth. xxxviii. §2 ᵹif he þara nan nyte, þonne nat he hwæt he mænð. c1000ælfric Gen. xviii. 20 God þa ᵹeopenude Abrahame, hwæt he mid þære spræce mænde. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 11 Wat þe holie apostle meneð þo he nemnede niht and niehtes dede. c1275Wom. Samaria 27 in O.E. Misc. 85 Heo nuste hwat heo mende heo wes of wytte poure. a1300Cursor M. 12631 Quat he wit þis wordes ment, Graithli wist þai noght þe entent. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xv. (Barnabas) 89 Gyf ȝe will wit quhat ve meyne. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 6 And sum men seien þat Crist meenide þat he himsilf..is more þan Joon Baptist. 1415Hoccleve To Sir J. Oldcastle 1 The laddre of heuene, I meene charitee. 1513Douglas æneis i. Prol. 387 Tuichand our tongis penurite, I mene onto compair of fair Latyne [etc.]. 1530Palsgr. 444/2 He becked at me, but I wyste nat what he ment. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 68 The twelfth day..wee rode foure miles (meaning Dutch miles). 1644Digby Nat. Bodies xviii. §2. 158 When we have examined this, we shall vnderstand in what sense it is meaned that Nature abhorreth from Vacuity. 1671Milton P.R. ii. 6, I mean Andrew and Simon. 1711Steele Spect. No. 136 ⁋4, I mean by this Town the Cities of London and Westminster. 1782F. Burney Cecilia iv. x, In both which [sc. reproof and compliment] more seemed meant than met the ear. 1825Cobbett Rur. Rides 442 And what is meaned by ‘The fear of the Lord’? 1895Kekewich in Law Times Rep. LXXIII. 663/1 The Act does not mean literally what it says.
b. transf. in questions of the form what does (a person) mean (by certain conduct)? i.e. ‘what motive or justification has he for it?’
1854Thackeray Newcomes I xxix. 287 What the devil do you mean about your Chimène and your Rodrigue? 1892Mrs. H. Ward David Grieve ii. iii, What, no top-coat in such weather! What do you mean by that, sir? You're wet through. 1930G. B. Shaw Apple Cart i. 16 What do you mean? Isn't it what I have always said?
c. (if) you know, see, understand, what I mean, i.e. ‘have I made it clear?’
1846G. E. Jewsbury Sel. Lett. to Mrs. Carlyle (1892) 203 There would be a want of reverence in it, if you understand what I mean. 1968Guardian 24 Apr. 9/8 If I thought..he was going to back-chat me like he does now..I'd half-kill him now, you know what I mean? 1968Listener 30 May 711/3 A braying Brooklyn accent studded with ‘You know what I means’. 1974Sunday Times 20 Jan. 12/4 [He'll] be only too keen to get back to his boat, if you see what I mean.
3. a. Of things, words, statements: To have a certain signification; to signify or import; to portend.
a1000Sal. & Sat. (Kemble) 472 Saᵹa hwæt ic mæne. c1200Ormin 5502 Swa þatt teȝȝ muȝhenn shæwenn ȝuw All whatt itt seȝȝþ & meneþþ. c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 8 Þei wist what it ment. a1400Cursor M. 25395 (Cott. Galba) ‘Amen’, þat menes, ‘so mot it be’. 1475Marg. Paston in P. Lett. III. 135 Some of them..wote full lytyll what yt meneth to be as a sauger. 1557North Gueuara's Diall Pr. 345 From the time I knew what meaned to governe a common weale, I have alwayes [etc.]. a1584Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 605 Experience came in, and speirit Quhat all the matter meind. 1611Bible Gen. xxi. 29 What meane these seuen ewe lambes, which thou hast set by themselues? 1622Bacon Hen. VII 234 His Armes were neuer Infortunate; neither did hee know what a Disaster meant. 1648Gage West Ind. x. (1655) 35 They knew not what money meaned. 1667Milton P.L. iii. 275 Admiration seis'd All Heav'n, what this might mean. Ibid. xi. 875 But say, what mean those colourd streaks in Heavn. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xxxvi, Eachin MacIan—what means all this?
b. Of a person or thing: to be of some account or importance, to ‘matter’ to (someone); to be a source of benefit, or an object of regard, affection, or love to (someone).
1888Mrs. H. Ward R. Elsmere II. iii. xxvi. 279 It was only by a great effort that he could turn his thoughts from the Squire, and all that the squire had meant to him during the past year. 1912Red Mag. 1 Mar. 515/1 It came over me how much she meant to me and how hard a wrench it was going to be to live along without her. 1914Times Lit. Suppl. 8 Jan. 12/1 Comprehension of what Lady Gregory has meant to him and to others who worked with her. 1922Joyce Ulysses 356 He would never understand what he had meant to her.
c. pass. To be destined (by providence); to have special significance.
1897Kipling Capt. Cour. viii. 169 It couldn't have been meant. It was only the tide. 1956M. Stewart Wildfire at Midnight i. 16 So handy having that address. It's as if it were meant. 1962M. Allingham China Governess (1963) xii. 151 That's miraculous! That's what people mean when they say a thing is ‘meant’. 1974I. Murdoch Sacred & Profane Love Machine 239 When I need you, you are here. You must see how meant it all is.
†4.
a. trans. To have in mind, to remember. Obs.
1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 6674 Sone! menest þou nat what y er seyde? c1420Anturs of Arth. 229 Gyffe me grace for to..mene [Douce MS. mynge] the with messes and matynnes one morne. c1440York Myst. xii. 1 Grete meruell is to mene Howe man was made.
†b. refl. and intr. Const. of, on, upon. Obs.
a1300–1400Cursor M. 5274 (Gött.) Ne menis ȝou noght, nou mani a day, Of a drem ful lang siþen gan? c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 1838 He recouered his strengþe for tene, Of skaþe wold he hym no more mene. 1375Barbour Bruce xii. 269 Menys on ȝour gret manheid. c1425Thomas of Erceld. 30 The Mawys menyde hir of hir songe. 1438Bk. Alexander Gt. (Bann. Cl.) 67 Mene vpon ȝour hecht. 1442Aberdeen Reg. (1844) I. 397 It is to mene apon that..Robert Masoun, and Gilbert Masoun, oblist them..til a honourable knight. 1513Douglas æneis xi. Prol. 172 Allthocht his lord wald meyne On his ald seruis.
†c. impers. me meaneth = I remember. Const. of, on. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 16889 Vs meins quils he was in lijf þat we herd him sai þat [etc.]. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xvi. (Magdalena) 881 Menis þe nocht of þe ewangel, þat in þe kirk is red vmquhile of mary. c1425St. Elizabeth of Spalbeck in Anglia VIII. 118/7 Atte a dewe oure, and, as me meniþ, bytwix sexte and noon.
†5. intr. To hold or entertain an opinion; to think, imagine. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 14686 ‘Þou mas þe godd, and þou art man’. ‘Soth it es’, coth iesus þan, ‘Bath i am, qua right wil men’. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 6888 ‘Lord’, he seyde, ‘ȝow þar nought wene, Why y am comen ȝe may wel mene’. c1449Pecock Repr. iii. xvii. 391 Ellis Crist in the alleggid x⊇. chapiter of Luk schulde haue meened aȝens him silf in the other now alleggid placis. 1533Gau Richt Vay (1888) 51 Ciprianus menit that ye quyk suld be the saulis. a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 31 Evirie man menit that it sould redound to his gret hurt. 1637Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 221 Knots of straw and things (as they mean) off the way to heaven.
†6.
a. trans. To say, tell, mention. Obs.
Beowulf 857 Ðær wæs Beowulfes mærðo mæned. c1205Lay. 16333 Wel ȝe hit maȝen imunen þat ich wulle mæinen. a1225Ancr. R. 316 Inouh hit is to siggen so þet þe schrift feder witterliche understonde hwat tu wulle menen. a1300Cursor M. 12498 (Cott.) He had þar-for wel gret pite, And þus to ioseph it mened he. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 345 Þey poetes mene þat Iupiter gildede Saturnus. c1450Holland Howlat 756 Menstralis and musicianis, mo than I mene may. c1460Towneley Myst. xiv 37 The myght of me may no man mene. 1494Fabyan Chron. ii. xxxiv. 26 Gaufride meaneth yt this Sicillius was but .vii. yeres of age when his Fader dyed.
†b. intr. (rarely refl.) To speak, tell. Chiefly const. of, on, Sc. and north. by. Cf. 1 e absol. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 24878 Hir succur son to ham sco sent, Þat in sli murning on hir ment. c1350Will. Palerne 1925, I wol minge of a mater i mennede of bi-fore. a1400–50Alexander 1615 (Dubl. MS.) Þai amervale þaime mekyll as menys me þe writtes [Ashm. MS. As þe buke tellis]. c1470Harding Chron. lxxxvii. vii, All these were called Westsex, as Bede ment. a1500Chester Pl., Purif. 217 Mary, of mirth we may us meane. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxiv. 12, I dout that Merche, with his cauld blastis keyne, Hes slane this gentill herbe, that I of mene. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 219 Richt so did he, as my author did meyne. 1562Winȝet Cert. Tract. i. Wks. 1888 I. 3 We mein of the pastores of the Kirk. 1625Bp. R. Montagu App. Cæsar 196 S. Paul speaketh of Iustification in the attayning it... But S. Iames meaneth of Iustification had and obtained.
7. Comb.: † mean-nothing, a meaningless, insincere phrase.
1654Whitlock Zootomia 387, I tell you for your good, and, what is it to me?..with many such non-significants, or mean-nothings.
Senses 3 b, c in Dict. become 3 c, d. Sense 7 in Dict. becomes 8. Add: [1.] g. you don't mean to say (or to tell me) , etc. (with following clause referring to the person addressed): expressing the speaker's surprise or scepticism at the conclusion in the following clause. Also with other speech act verbs. do you mean to say (or to tell me): used similarly, but inviting confirmation more strongly. colloq.
1838Dickens Nickleby (1839) xix. 181 Do you mean to tell me that your pretty niece was not brought here as a decoy..? 1839Ibid. xxix. 288 Why, he don't mean to say he's going!.. Hoity toity! nonsense. 1841― Barnaby Rudge xxxix, in Master Humphrey's Clock III. 163 You don't mean to say their old wearers are all dead, I hope?’ said Mr. Tappertit, falling a little distance from him, as he spoke. ‘Every one of 'em.’ 1885‘E. Garrett’ At Any Cost ii. 34 You don't mean to tell me that those outlandish old things are still in actual use? 1899R. Broughton Game & Candle 129 You do not mean to imply..that Mrs. Grundy is going to interpose between you and me? 1908L. M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables xx. 230 Anne Shirley, do you mean to tell me you believe all that wicked nonsense of your own imagination? 1929M. Callaghan in Atwood & Weaver Oxf. Bk. Canad. Short Stories (1988) 56 You mean to say you never step out? 1986F. Peretti This Present Darkness ix. 87 Do you mean to say you've uncovered something new?
h. I mean to say: used parenthetically or as an exclamation, usu. to emphasize the speaker's sincerity or concern. Brit. colloq.
1923Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves i. 7 So dashed competent in every respect. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I mean to say, take just one small instance. 1963D. Lessing Man & Two Women 141, I mean to say, you've got to take the rough with the smooth. 1984B. MacLaverty Cal 96 I've a good mind to pay you off here and now... I mean to say, you're working here a fortnight and you break into our property and scare the living daylights out of us. 1991M. Kilby Man at Sharp End 261 ‘Well it's fairly obvious that you can't go back to the plant, innit?’ agreed his platinum blonde flatmate Deirdre. ‘Well I mean to say..it stands to reason like..don't it?’ she added.
[2.] d. To be in earnest in saying; esp. in to mean what one says, to speak truthfully, sincerely, or with determination; to mean it, to be in earnest regarding one's words or (transf.) actions.
1749Fielding Tom Jones II. v. vi. 164 Pardon me if I have said anything to offend you. I did not mean it. 1840J. H. Newman Parochial Sermons V. iii. 51 Let us aim at meaning what we say, and saying what we mean. 1854Dickens Hard T. ii. viii. 213 ‘The Bank's robbed!’ ‘You don't mean it!’ 1876H. James Roderick Hudson III. xi. 398, I was unkind yesterday, without meaning it. 1906R. E. Knowles Undertow xxiii. 299 ‘What do you mean, Hiram?’.. ‘I mean what I say.’ 1908L. M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables xiii. 126 When I tell you to come in at a certain time I mean that time and not half an hour later. 1925F. Scott Fitzgerald Great Gatsby vi. 124 ‘I mean it,’ she insisted. ‘I'd love to have you. Lots of room.’ 1952E. O'Neill Moon for Misbegotten i. 65 It's good to hear him laugh as if he meant it. 1973J. Wainwright Pride of Pigs 158 It was a very special room... Fire-proof. And I mean fire-proof. Built to contain a furnace. 1987‘A. T. Ellis’ Clothes in Wardrobe 76 He still listened, but now..not believing that I meant what I said.
e. The phr. I mean used parenthetically in speech has in some cases lost the function of introducing an explanation or expansion of what has already been said, and become a conversational filler.
1892I. Zangwill Childr. Ghetto I. 223 Tank Gawd! I mean, can I see him? 1938N. Marsh Artists in Crime ix. 122, I mean, it was only once ages ago, after a party, and I mean I think men and women ought to be free to follow their sex-impulses anyway. 1951J. D. Salinger Catcher in Rye xi. 92, I knew her like a book. I really did. I mean, besides checkers, she was quite fond of all athletic sports. 1972G. Chapman et al. Monty Python's Flying Circus (1989) II. xxvii. 50 Well I mean a lot of these things that are happening, well they just don't quite ring true. 1988J. McInerney Story of my Life iv. 56 Hey, I go, I'm just being realistic. I mean, really. I'm trying to tell her what life is really like. 1992L. Woidwode Indian Affairs vi. 120 You know, like, uh, hey, man, I mean, cool, huh?
[3.] b. To require, entail, necessitate; to produce as an effect or result.
1841E. Miall in Nonconformist I. 228 Protection means shutting out the best chapman and the best food. 1851Tait's Mag. XXI. 490 Resurgent Poland, he says, means resurgent Hungary, and even resurgent Italy. 1894Times 5 Feb. 8/2 That would mean taking up all the streets in South London. 1927Passing Show Summer 23/3 Kendal Brown, sorrowfully realising that this would mean a lifer for Bristola Birdseye, ducked his head. 1958R. Narayan Guide i. 5 It'd have meant walking home at nearly midnight. 1978G. Greene Human Factor i. iii. 43 A suicide always means an inquest, and that might lead to a question in the House. 1985‘J. Higgins’ Confessional (1986) viii. 137 His arm..really needed stitching, but to go to the hospital would have meant questions. 1994Maclean's 17 Oct. 12/1 A third option would be to sharpen the targeting of the child tax benefit, but that would mean less money going to middle-income Canadians.
7. pass. Const. to with infin. To be reputed, considered, said (to be). Cf. suppose v. 8 d.
1878R. Simpson School of Shakspere I. 34 It is confessed that Hawkins and Cobham were meant to be buccaneers, and it is absurd to deny the like of Stucley. 1945Queen 18 Apr. 17/1 ‘Such and such a play,’ they [sc. my children] will say, ‘is meant to be jolly good.’ 1972Listener 9 Mar. 310/1 America..is meant to be a great melting-pot. 1988Sunday Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 25 Sept. 10/1 Even in normal times, there's one rider who is meant to make {pstlg}500 a week. 1989Times 30 Mar. 15/1 It [sc. evening primrose oil] is also meant to be good for arthritis.
▪ VII. † mean, v.2 Obs. (After 15th c. only Sc. and north. dial.)
Forms: 1 mǽnan, 2–7 mene, 3 mæne, maine, meane, 5 meene, 5–6 Sc. meyn(e, 6–7 Sc. meine, 6– mean.
[OE. mǽnan: see moan n.]
1. trans. To complain of, lament (something); to lament for (a dead person).
c888K. ælfred Boeth. iv. (heading), Hu Boetius hine singende ᵹebæd, & his earfoðu to Gode mænde. c1175Lamb. Hom. 33 Gif þu me dest woh..ic hit mene to mine lauerde. c1205Lay. 2438, & swiðe heo hit mænde to alle monnen. a1225Ancr. R. 224 Ȝif heo edmodliche mened hire neode. 1375Barbour Bruce ix. 300 Eftir that, neir fifty ȝheir, Men menyt the heirschip of Bouchane. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xii. (Mathias) 203 Scho menyt ofte rycht sare hyr a sowne. c1400Rom. Rose 2596 My greet unese ful ofte I mene. 1513Douglas æneis ix. v. 157 The Troianis..With tender hartis menand Ewrialus. 1536Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) II. 289 Becaus this Duncane wes ane tyrane..few menit his slauchter. 1599Jas. I βασιλ. Δωρον (1682) 20 His fall is but little meaned by the rest of his subjects.
b. With cognate obj.: to mean (one's) moan, (one's) complaint.
a1300Cursor M. 4277 (Cott.) Oft sco meind til him hir mane. a1300–1400Ibid. 8159 (Gött.) Unese had he menid his mode, þat a lem fra þe wandes stode. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 2440 [Lear] ment his mone euen & morwe. 14..Harding Chron. Pref. (1812) 5 To none other my complaynte can I mene.
c. To pity.
c1440Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903) 186 If þou be sijk, y schal þee hele; If þou moorne ouȝt, y schal þee meene. 1508Dunbar Tua mariit Wemen 501, I am so mercifull in mynd, et menys all wichtis. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 541 The husband men full lytill now ar ment, Quhome be we ar vphaldin and sustent. c1560A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) xxvi. 32 Thay wald be menit, and no man menis. 1603Philotus clxv, I grant indeid thair will na man me meine, For I my self am authour of my greif.
d. in predicative phrase, to mean: to be deplored or pitied.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 335 Allas! it was to mene, his vertuz & his pruesse So fele in him were sene, þat perist for falsnesse. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. (1858) I. 16 Quhairfoir thair mister wes the moir to mene. 1719Ramsay 3rd Answ. Hamilton x, An fowk can get A doll of rost beef..And be na sick..They're no to mean. 1788R. Galloway Poems 132 Yes, said the king, we're no to mean, We live baith warm, and snug, and bien.
2. intr. To lament, mourn; to complain.
c888K. ælfred Boeth. xi. §1 Þu simle mid wope & mid unrotnesse mænst ᵹif þe ænies willan wana bið. c1205Lay. 29613 Þa wolde he þer after sone wenden to Rome and menen to Gregorie. a1225Ancr. R. 274 So þet heo mei weopen & menen ase sori mon, mide þe salmwuruhte. a1300–1400Cursor M. 3059 (Gött.) Quilys scho menyd in hir mode, Confort com hir sone ful gode. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints vi. (Thomas) 513 Carisius..for his vif gretly can men. c1420Anturs of Arth. (MS. I) 110 Hyt menet, hit musut, hyt marret. c1430Syr Tryam. 28 Ofte tyme togedur can they meene, For no chylde come them betwene. c1560A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) xx. 22 Off all thy wo and cair It mends the not to mene. a1800Proud Lady Marg. v. in Scott Minstr. Scott. Bord. (1803) III. 276 If you should die for me, sir knight, There's few for you will meane.
b. To complain of (an offender).
a1225Ancr. R. 362 Uor þe ueond is affuruht and offered of swuche and forði þet Job was swuch he mende of him. a1250Owl & Night. 1257 Hwi wulleþ men of me mene..Þah ic hi warny al þat yer.
c. impers. me meaneth = I mourn.
13..Guy Warw. (A.) 433 Sore me meneþ, for me smert, Miche care is in mine hert.
d. refl. in the same sense.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 17 Men þe to halie chirche, þet is to þan preoste and to þan folke. c1205Lay. 31504 And heo gunnen wenden to þan Kinge Pendan and menden heom to Pendan. a1225Ancr. R. 98 Meneð ou to his earen. c1320Sir Tristr. 1135 Til mark he gan him mene. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. iii. 163 Thenne mornede Meede and menede hire to the kyng. c1400Destr. Troy 7612 The grekes for þe greuaunce..Made myche murmur & menit hom sore. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 4174 Gretely he him mened. 1790Mrs. Wheeler Westmld. Dial. (1821) 62 Awr lass hed been ath shop, for a quartern ea hops, en hard him mean hissel.
3. trans. To state as a grievance; to represent by way of formal complaint or petition. Sc.
1475Aberdeen Reg. (1844) I. 33 Fersamekil as it is lammentabilly menit till ws be our louit Johne of Spens, litster,..that [etc.]. 1525Ibid. I. 110 Forsamekill as it is humelie meynit and schewin to ws be ane reverend fader in God [etc.]. 1560in Spottiswood Hist. Ch. Scot. iii. (1677) 144 They were forced to mean our estate to the Queen of England. 1569Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 61 Ordaining baith the parties,..to meyne the mater to the said Generall Assembly. 1752J. Louthian Form of Process (ed. 2) 25 It is humbly meaned and shown to Us, by Our Lovit, C.D. That [etc.].
b. refl. To present a complaint.
1551Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 114 Thai menit thame diverse tymes to the Lordis of Sessioun. a1670Spalding Troub. Chas. I (Spalding Cl.) II. 72 To stramp it out he meinis him self to the Parliament.
▪ VIII. mean, v.3
Also 5 meen, 5–6 mene, 6 Sc. meyne.
[a. OF. meenner, moiener, f. meien (see mean a.). Cf. mean n.2 9.]
†1. trans. To mediate. Obs. rare.
c1440Promp. Parv. 332/2 Menyn, or goon be-twene ij. partyes for a-corde..medio. c1449Pecock Repr. ii. xix. 263 If Iohun be a prouoking meene that the King ȝeue to me xxti. pound of ȝeerli fee,..it mai be seid..that Iohun dooth and ȝeueth to me thilk fee,..in this vndirstonding, that Iohun meeneth or helpith, and fortherith in meenyng that the ȝeuyng be doon. c1522Douglas in Wks. (1874) I. p. cx, Causing thame mene and procure so that the remayning with hir husband was not payit of her dower. 1654H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 138 Nor was any assistance more like to mean and procure his Restauration then theirs.
†2. To moderate (by intervention). Obs. rare.
1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxxv. 47 Our teyne to meyne, and ga betweyne, Ane hevinle oratrice.
3. trans. [f. mean a.2 7 or n.2 8.] To calculate the arithmetical mean of. Also with up.
1882W. J. L. Wharton Hydrogr. Surveying 210 We need not mean up each column of times. Ibid. 213 When working several sets, calculate them simultaneously as far as this, and mean the results. a1888P. F. Shortland Naut. Surveying (1890) 64 The permanent errors will destroy each other in the results of all..observations so meaned. |