| 释义 |
minikin, n. and a.|ˈmɪnɪkɪn|
Forms: 6 mynykyn, menekyn, -in, menyking, 6–8 miniken, minnekin, 7 mynnikin, 7–8 miniking, 6–9 minnikin, minikin. Also 7 minckins (sing.).
[ad. early mod.Du. minneken (MDu. minnekijn), f. minne love + -kijn -kin.]
A. n.
1. A playful or endearing term for a female. Obs. exc. dial. (see quot. 1879).
a1550Image Ipocr. in Skelton's Wks. (1843) II. 419/1 Your riche ringes,..Which your mynykyns And mynyon babbes,..When masse and all is done, Shall were at afternone. 1605Lond. Prodigal iii. iii. E 3 Minckins looke you doe not follow me. 1608Day Hum. out of Br. ii. v, You take your parts too low, you are trebble Courtiers, and will neuer agree with these Country Mynnikins. 1618B. Holiday Technog. v. vi. (1630) O 3 Melan [to Musica]..Come, my little Minikin, thou and I will be play-fellowes. 1640H. Glapthorne Hollander ii. C 4 b, Surely the Minikin is enamoured on me. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Minnekin or Minks, a nice Dame, a mincing Lass. 1879G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., Minikin, a slight, delicate, affected girl—‘sich a minikin as 'er is’.
†2. A thin string of gut used for the treble string of the lute or viol. Also attrib., as minikin string.
1541Rutland MSS. (1905) IV. 325 For ij dossen off lewte stringes callyd ‘menekyns’. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. i. 2 b, In luting..a treble minikin string must alwayes be let down, but at suche time as when a man must nedes playe. 1580Acc. Bk. W. Wray in Antiquary XXXII. 81, ij knotes of menykinges, iiij d. 1667Pepys Diary 18 Mar., Mr. Cæsar told me a pretty experiment of his, of angling with a minnikin—a gut-string varnished over. a1670Hacket Abp. Williams i. (1693) 147 Sir Francis Answered him with the Old Simile, That his Lordship was no good Musician, for he would peg the Minikin so high, till it crack'd. 1676T. Mace Musick's Mon. 65 Be carefull to get Good Strings, which would be of three sorts, viz. Minikins, Venice-Catlins, and Lyons. 1721C. King Brit. Merch. I. 284 Lutestrings Catlings..Minikings.
b. esp. in the phrase † to tickle (the) minikin, to play the lute or fiddle. (Frequently used by early 17th c. dramatists, often with allusive suggestion of sense 1.)
1601? Marston Pasquil & Kath. i. 14 When I was a yong man and could tickle the Minikin,..I had the best stroke, the sweetest touch, but now..I am falne from the Fidle, and betooke me to thee [the Pipe]. 1608Middleton Fam. Love i. iii, Of which consort you two are grounds, one touches the Base, and the other tickles the minikin. 1635[Glapthorne] Lady Mother ii. i. in Bullen O. Pl. II. 131 Thou dost tickle minikin as nimbly.
fig. phrase.1606Dekker News from Hell H j b, Perge mentiri. Tickle the next Minkin [sic].
†c. transf. of a high-pitched voice. Obs.
1602Marston Ant. & Mel. iii. ii, Cast. Good, very good, very passing passing good. Fel. Fut, what trebble minikin squeaks there, ha? good? very good, very very good?
3. transf. and fig. A small or insignificant thing; a diminutive creature.
1761Colman Genius No. II. in Prose Sev. Occas. (1787) I. 22 A make-weight in the scale of mortality; a minim of nature; a mannikin, not to say minnikin. 1787Minor iv. viii. 232 I shan't advance a minikin beyond the truth. 1804Wolcot (P. Pindar) Ep. to Ld. Mayor Wks. 1816 IV. 278, I shall suppose, That Addington's invet'rate foes Impede this honest scheme of thine. Then take this minikin of mine. 1808E. S. Barrett Miss-led General 166 A son—a very minnikin indeed. Ibid. 168 Le pauvre petit garçon, the fiddler's minnikin.
4. A small kind of pin (cf. B. 5 below).
1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Minnekins, the smallest sort of Pins, us'd by Women for their Clothes. 1755in Johnson. 1857A. Mathews Tea-Table Talk I. 235 [An] apprentice..with haply a provident row of minikins darned with precision on his sleeve. 1881in Leicestersh. Gloss.
5. (See quot.; also minik.)
1852–4Tomlinson's Cycl. Useful Arts (1866) II. 143/1 The large [match] splints or the second size called minnikins.
6. Typogr. A size of type smaller than ‘brilliant’.
1890Jacobi Printing.
7. Comb.: † minikin tickler, a fiddler.
1607Marston What you will iv. i, A fiddler, a scraper, a miniken tickler, a pum, pum.
B. adj.
1. Dainty, elegant, sprightly. Now contemptuously: Affected, mincing.
a. of a person; formerly of a girl or woman, but now applied to a person of either sex. Also in jingling combinations, minikin-finikin, minikin-finical.
1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 20 The credite..of mistresse, to minnekin Nan. 1598Florio, Mingherlina, a daintie lasse, a minnikin smirking wench. 1600Holland Livy xxxix. vi. 1026 Then came up the maner of having at bankets singing miniken wenches, and such as could play upon the dulcimers. 1696Tryon Misc. iv. 121 Fare..such as the Proud Wives and Miniking Daughters would scarce offer to their..Dogs. 1768Bickerstaff Lionel & Clarissa i. (1781) 9 A coxcomb, a fop..A minikin, Finikin, French powder-puff. 1858Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-bks. II. 143, I wish I could put into..one sentence the pettiness, the minikin-finical effect of this little man. 1888Sheffield Gloss., Minikin, delicate, effeminate. Frequently used in the phrase, ‘he's a minikin-finikin fellow’.
b. of a person's actions, attributes, etc.
1545R. Ascham Toxoph. i. 10 b, The minstrelsie of lutes, pipes, harpes, and all other that standeth by suche nice, fine, minikin fingering..is farre more fitte for the womannishnesse of it to dwell in the courte among ladies. 1781T. Twining in Sel. Papers Twining Fam. (1887) 101 What have you and I to do with..the minikin duties of civility and bienséance? 1872S. Mostyn Perplexity I. x. 190 None of your minnikin governess-schemes for me.
Comb.1876Browning Pacchiarotto viii, And his voice, that out-roared Boanerges, How minikin-mildly it urges.
†2. Of a voice: Shrill. (Cf. A. 2 c above.)
1602Marston Ant. & Mel. v. i, I had rather haue a seruant with a short nose, and a thinne haire, then haue such a high stretcht minikin voice. 1608Shakes. Lear iii. vi. 45 (Qtos. 1–2) For one blast of thy minikin mouth, thy sheepe shall take no harme.
3. Of a thing: Diminutive in size or form; miniature; tiny. Also in † minikin name, a pet name, endearing diminutive.
1589R. Harvey Pl. Perc. 9 Euery cut-purse vseth them [their words] at the Old Bayly, that hath had any skill in his miniken Handsaw. 1617Collins Def. Bp. Ely ii. x. 444 The Church is the better for beeing without them [sc. miracles], without sicke dogges healed, and lame cattes cured by your minikin-miracles, done at Minich. 1756F. Brooke Old Maid No. 34 (1764) 279 Polly Instep, the dancing-master's daughter, insists upon being called Pally, ‘because (says she)..it is the minikin name for Pallas’. 1778W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric. 1 July an. 1775 Make it into light minikin cocks. 1784Cowper To the Halibut, In thy minikin and embryo state. 1826Hood Fairy Tale i, A little house some years ago there stood, A minikin abode. 1847Tait's Mag. XIV. 449 He was pervious all over, and allowed minnikin arrows..to rouse his rage. 1851Thackeray Eng. Hum. iv. (1858) 188 They [sc. pastorals] are to poetry what charming little Dresden figures are to sculpture; graceful, minikin, fantastic. 1887Ruskin Præterita II. 154 In the distance..the great walnut-trees have become dots, and the farmsteads, minikin as if they were the fairy-finest of models to be packed in a box.
†4. Used to designate some kind of baize. Obs.
1604Lismore Papers Ser. ii. (1887) I. 108, Vij yeards halfe of minikin bayste to make y⊇ same gowne. a1616Beaum. & Fl. Scornf. Lady i. (1616) C 2, Steward this is as plaine as your olde minikin breeches. 1721C. King Brit. Merch. II. 306 Bays (Double or Minikin) by the same Tariff.
5. minikin pin (see A. 4 above).
1742Phil. Trans. XLII. 57 Minnikin Pins, or small Pins. 1843Hood Drop of Gin iii, No prospect in life worth a minnikin pin.
Hence ˈminikinly adv.
1580Baret Alv. G 30 Galantly, gaily, minikinly [1573 reads minionly]. 1623tr. Favine's Theat. Honour ii. vi. 110, I think it a matter hard to..represent a Floure de Luce minikinly trussed, but by an excellent Painter. |