| 释义 |
▪ I. mince, n.|mɪns|
[f. mince v.]
1. Minced meat; mincemeat.
a1850Rossetti Dante & Circ. ii. (1874) 274 Then let them hew me to such mince As a man's limbs may make. 1863[see hash n.1 1]. 1869Mrs. Stowe Old-town Folks xxvii. (1870) 305 ‘We children’ were employed in chopping mince for pies. 1899O. Seaman In Cap & Bells (1900) 84 Those pies at which you annually wince, Hearing the tale how happy months will follow Proportioned to the total mass of mince You swallow.
2. An act of ‘mincing’ in speech or gesture.
Richardson 1837 has a quot. in which mince is a misprint for minde. The sense appears in many later Dicts., and though no authority is cited, it is so completely according to analogy that it might be used without producing any sense of novelty.
3. Rhyming slang. = mince-pie 3. (Usu. in pl.)
1937in Partridge Dict. Slang 522/1. 1958 F. Norman Bang to Rights 149 ‘I know what's on there’ said the boggie looking Solie straight in the minces. 1960News Chron. 16 Feb. 6/5 She gives me a double glinty butchers out of those sharp minces of hers. 1962R. Cook Crust on its Uppers (1964) iii. 28 ‘One pack dealer's choice,’ he says, minces all gleaming. Ibid. iv. 32 A general look of dislike in the minces, which tremble a bit in their sockets.
▪ II. mince, v.|mɪns|
Forms: α. 4–6 mynce, 5–6 mynse, 5 mence, (7 minze), 6–7 minse, 6– mince; β. dial. 5 mynsh, 7 minche, 9 minsh, 6– minch.
[Late ME. mynce, mynsh, ad. OF. mincier, minchier (mod.F. mincer), accentual variant of menuisier:—popular L. *minūtiāre, f. L. minūtia (see minutia), f. minūtus minute a. Cf. It. minuzzare and (am)mencire.]
1. a. trans. To cut or chop (meat, etc.) small, or in little pieces. † Also, to cut up tobacco.
αc1390Form of Cury (1780) 12 Mynce Oynouns and cast þer to Safronn and Salte. c1420Liber Cocorum (1862) 18 Above þese herbus a lytul larde Smalle myncyd. c1430Two Cookery-bks. 41 Þen mence Sawge. c1460J. Russell Bk. Nurture 400 Mynse hem [sc. partridges, etc.] smalle in þe siruppe. 1555W. Watreman Fardle Facions i. 48 Rawe fleshe very finely minced. 1611Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girle ii. i. C 3 Shee that minces Tobacco. 1693J. Dryden in Dryden's Juvenal xiv. (1697) 353 The least Remains of which they mince, and dress It o'er again to make another Mess. 1726Swift Gulliver ii. i, [At dinner] The Wife minced a bit of Meat, then crumbled some bread on a Trencher, and placed it before me. a1756E. Haywood New Present (1771) 159 Mince very fine the white of a chicken. 1863Mrs. Gaskell Sylvia's L. xxxiv, The sergeant asked for pepper and salt; minced the food fine and made it savoury. 1887Spon's Househ. Managem. 284 Mince the flesh of a hen lobster to the size of small dice.
absol.1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 230 And who has to kill and skin and mince and boil and roast? The cook, I said.
β1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1792) I. 291 A small joint of meat,..served us cold, hashed and minched, from one week to the other. 1821[see 7]. 1880Jamieson, To Minch, Minsh, to cut into small pieces.
b. To chop up or grind small with a knife or mincing-machine and cook (meat, usually the remains of a joint, etc., left from a previous meal).
Mod. We will have the cold meat minced for dinner to-day.
c. transf. To cut (a person) in small pieces.
1602Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 537 She saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport In mincing with his Sword her Husbands limbes. 1607― Timon iv. iii. 122 Spare not the Babe..Thinke it a Bastard..And mince it sans remorse. 1648Gage West Ind. 200 Fearing that many would fall upon him cowardly and mince him small in pieces. 1742Pope Dunc. iv. 120 Revive the Wits! But murder first, and mince them all to bits. 1819Shelley Cyclops 359 He..minces their flesh and gnaws their bone With his cursed teeth. 1896Farmer & Henley Slang, Mince (medical students'), to dissect.
β1635Heywood Hierarchie ii. 64 Thinking to minch me into parts and fleece Me of my right.
†d. To cut or slash. Obs. rare.
a1560Becon Jewel of Joy Wks. ii. 19 b, Theyr dublets and hoses,..for the most parte are so mynsed cutte and iagged, that [etc.]. 1582Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 63 Lyk on a mountayn thee tree dry wythered oaken Sliest by the clowne Coridon rusticks with twibbil, or hatchet. Then the tre deepe minced, far chopt dooth terrifye swinckers.
†e. The alleged proper term for: To carve (a plover). Obs.
1486Bk. St. Albans F vij b, A Plouer Mynsed. 1513Bk. Keruynge in Babees Bk. 151 Wynge that quayle mynce that plouer thye that pegyon. 1661Rabisha Cookery Dissected 253 Mince that Plover. 1840H. Ainsworth Tower of London xxxix, In the old terms of his art, he leached the brawn,..minced the plovers, thighed the pigeons.
2. transf. and fig. To cut up, subdivide minutely. Also with up. † to mince away: to nullify by multiplied petty exceptions.
αc1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 6758 All northumberlande prouynce He thoght as croms of brede to mynce. 1581Mulcaster Positions xxxix. (1887) 190 To mince his labour so, as ech one can haue but some litle. 1639Fuller Holy War v. xxi. (1640) 264 We will not take notice of Germanie as it is minced into pettie Principalities. 1689T. R. View Govt. Europe 62 The Jesuits there have..minc'd away all the old remains of Morality and Conscience. a1748Watts Improv. Mind ii. vi. §2 (1801) 241, I have always thought it a mistake in the preacher to mince his text or his subject too small, by a great number of subdivisions. 1853Marsden Early Purit. 244 Their [sc. the Puritans'] sermons were not studiously minced up in tiny fragments.
refl.1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §8 Nor contented with a general breach or dichotomy with their Church do subdivide and mince themselves almost into Atoms.
β1637Rutherford Lett. 11 Mar., And let Christ have all your love, without minching or dividing it. 1712M. Henry Life P. Henry Wks. 1853 II. 647/1 In his expositions, he reduced the matter of the chapter..read to some heads; not by a logical analysis, which often mincheth it too small.
†3. To diminish, take away from. Obs.
α1646J. Benbrigge Vsura Accom. 20 He that minceth his estate, doth diminish the Magistrate's Right [= Taxes].
β1499in N. Riding Rec. (1894) 178 Wherby the seid wode in mynshed and hurt. 1606W. Birnie Kirk-Buriall (1833) 35 Lawlesse publicans, lyke Hophnees with elcrookes to minche and not Samueles, to mense the offerings of God.
4. a. To lessen or diminish in representation; to make little of, minimize; to disparage; to palliate, extenuate (faults). Now rare.
a1591H. Smith Serm. (1637) 395 Wee mince our sins as though they needed no forgivenesse. 1609W. M. Man in Moone (Percy Soc.) 46 To mince and extenuate any laudable part in her, but to display and augment whatsoever deformity you know by her. 1638Ford Lady's Trial i. iii, Be gone Futelli, doe not mince one syllable Of what you heare. a1676Hale Prim. Orig. Man. ii. vii. 186 The Author of the Dissertation..seems to mince the Universality of the Flood. 1685Dryden Sylvæ Pref. a 3 b, If to mince his meaning,..I had..omitted some part of what he [sc. Lucretius] said,..I certainly had wrong'd him. 1727Swift Gulliver, Let. fr. Capt. G. to Sympson 14 You have either omitted some material circumstances, or minced or changed them in such a manner that I do hardly know mine own work. 1736Ainsworth Lat. Dict., To mince or pass a thing slightly over. 1839Bailey Festus v. (1848) 41 Ye see I do not mince the truth for ye.
†b. absol. Obs.
1615Jackson Creed iv. ii. vi. §5 Abraham..was then rejustified not by works though not without faith, as Bellarmine minceth, but by faith without works, as the Apostle strongly and peremptorily infers. 16211st Bk. Discipl. Ch. Scot. Pref. (1641) A 3, Some of the Disciples..at first did mince, and sparingly speake, but afterward practise and loudly preach; that [etc.]. 1681Glanvill Sadducismus ii. (1726) 455 Who confidently and without mincing, denied that there was any such Being.
c. to mince the matter: in early use, to extenuate or make light of the particular matter in question. Now only in negative contexts, to moderate one's language in condemnation, to express oneself politely or delicately. So to mince matters.
a1535[see mincing vbl. n. 2]. 1604Shakes. Oth. ii. iii. 247 Iago, Thy honestie and love doth mince this matter, Making it light to Cassio. 1649Bp. Hall Cases Consc. (1650) 160 Some Doctors..would either excuse, or mince the matter. 1668Owen Nat. & Power Indw. Sin Wks. 1851 VI. 315 Here it [sc. the law] minceth not the matter with Sinners. 1679J. Goodman Penit. Pard. iii. v. (1713) 335 A learned Jew endeavours to mince the matter, and to turn the story into an allegory. 1741Richardson Pamela II. 82 Well, Tom, said he, don't mince the matter. Tell me, before Mrs. Andrews, what they said. 1778F. Burney Diary 26 Aug., His determination not to mince the matter, when he thought reproof at all deserved. 1840Carlyle Heroes ii. (1858) 239 A candid ferocity, if the case call for it, is in him; he does not mince matters! 1857W. Collins Dead Secret ii. ii. (1861) 49 A man's speculative view depends—not to mince the matter—on the state of his secretions. 1891Mrs. Oliphant Jerus. iv. iii. 483 Language of condemnation..made when men did not mince matters.
d. † To report (expressions) euphemistically (obs.); to moderate (one's language), restrain (one's words) within the bounds of politeness or decorum. Also to mince it. to mince an oath: to substitute some euphemistic perversion for it (also used in sense 5).
1599Shakes. Hen. V, v. ii. 130, I know no wayes to mince it in loue, but directly to say, I loue you. 1606― Ant. & Cl. i. ii. 109 Ant. Speake to me home, Mince not the general tongue, name Cleopatra as she is call'd in Rome. 1720Swift Let. Advice Yng. Poet Misc. (1722) 107 My young Master, who at first but minc'd an Oath, is taught there to mouth it gracefully, and to swear, as he reads French, Ore rotundo. 1754Richardson Grandison III. vii. 112 Shall I give it you in plain English? You don't use to mince it. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey ii. ii, I will not mince my words. 1897S. S. Sprigge Life T. Wakley xxxii. 294 These were hard sayings, but men did not mince their words in those days.
5. a. trans. To utter in an affectedly refined manner; to pronounce with affected elegance, ‘clip’ (one's words). Also with out. b. absol. or intr. To speak with affected elegance or delicacy of pronunciation.
1549Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Thess. 3 We came not unto you with bragging,..nor curiously mincing a sorte of great wordes. 1807Crabbe Par. Reg. ii. Wks. 1834 II. 179 Low spake the lass, and lisp'd and minced the while. 1862Mrs. H. Wood Channings II. v. 75 ‘You—are—very—kind—to—take—up—Arthur Channing's cause!’ they mince out. 1874L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) I. x. 347 [The] fine gentleman who minced his mother tongue. 1888Mrs. H. Ward R. Elsmere III. xliii. 255 ‘Ah—‘Reculer pour mieux faire sauter!’’—said Sir John, mincing out his pun as though he loved it.
6. a. intr. To walk with short steps or with affected preciseness or nicety; to walk in an affected manner; to show affectation or affected delicacy in manner of gait. Also to mince it.
1562Jack Juggler (Roxb. Club) 9 She minceth, she brideleth, she swimmeth to and fro. 1567Drant Horace, Ep. i. xiv. E v, Thou hast no trippinge trull to mince it with the now That thou mighst foote it vnto her as nimble as a cow. 1593Drayton Ecl. vii. 13 Now Shepheards..in neate Jackets minsen on the Playnes. 1598Shakes. Merry W. v. i. 9 Fall. Away I say, time weares, hold vp your head & mince. 1611Bible Isa. iii. 16 The daughters of Zion are hautie, and walke with stretched forth necks, and wanton eyes, walking and mincing [marg., tripping nicely] as they goe, and making a tinkeling with their feet. 1616R. C. Times' Whistle etc. (1871) 133 Then gan she trip it proudlie one the toe, And mince it finely vpon London streetes. a1639W. Whately Prototypes i. xix. (1640) 240 Mincing with ones feete, or any other affected kind of going, is an act of haughtinesse. 1736Ainsworth Lat. Dict., To mince it in walking. 1753Foote Eng. in Paris i. Wks. 1799 I. 36 The men are all puppies, mincing and dancing, and chattering. 1826Blackw. Mag. XX. 484 She..minced, and primmed, and tossed her head. 1868L. M. Alcott Lit. Women xix, It was a comical sight to see her mince along. 1892Stevenson & L. Osbourne Wrecker ii. 28 My aunt might mince and my cousins bridle, but there was no getting over the solid physical fact of the stone-mason in the chimney-corner.
b. trans. To perform or enact mincingly.
1603Dekker Batchelar's Banq. xi, Fine Dames and dainetye Girles..whoe can finely mince their measures. 1605Shakes. Lear iv. vi. 122 Behold yond simpring Dame,..that minces Vertue & do's shake the head to heare of pleasures name. 1648J. Beaumont Psyche iii. clxxxii, To the ground Three times she bows, and with a modest grace Minces here spruce retreat. 1821in A. Lowson J. Guidfollow (1890) 233 [The witch] Could mince a minua on mist, Or caper on a cloud!
7. Comb. The verb-stem used attrib.
a. with object-noun, as in † mince-speech, one who ‘minces’ his language;
b. in the sense of ‘minced’, as in † mince-collop, mincemeat, mince-pie.
α1621R. Brathwait Nat. Embassie, etc. (1877) 278 Mins-speech, nuff-pace sleeke-skin, and perfum'd breath.
β1821Galt Ayrsh. Leg. xxv. (1895) 223 A steam-ingine that minches minch-collops as natural as life. |