_Mince_
Verb.
Etymology: Walter Skeat stated: “the word appears to be the same as French mincer”, and this one is maybe from Latin minūtia (= a small object), from minūtus (= minute, very small), preterite participle of minuere (= diminish).
Pronunciation: mɪns.
Preterite tense: minced (mɪnst); preterite participle: minced.
Present participle: mincing.
Transitively: 1. a. To cut or chop (an eatable thing) small, or in little pieces.
Synonym: to hash.
Translation: émincer, in French; desmenuzar, in Spanish; sminuzzare, in Italian.
Skin and mince very fine the breast or white fleshy parts of a cold chicken.
Christian Johnstone… The cook and housewife's manual
At dinner she minced the food upon her plate, and crumbled her bread.
Newton Crosland… Lydia
Mince a bit of cold veal and six oysters, mixed with a few crumbs of bread, salt, pepper.
Eliza Rundell… Domestic cookery…
b. To chop small and cook (meat).
Take the lean of any joint of cold roasted mutton, pare off the skin, and mince the meat with a little grated bacon and calf 's udder.
Eliza Leslie… The Cook's Own Book
Boil two calf's feet till very tender. When cold, mince the meat with suet, apples, currants and a little spice.
The American Practical Cookery-book
2. Metaphorically: a. To lessen verbally the value of (something).
Synonyms: to underrate, minimize.
[…] is not in the habit of mincing his phrases.
John Dix… Pen and Ink Sketches
[…] he abhors mincing his opinions
James Hogg… Titan
b. To tell palliatively, as if by chopping the expression, in order to disguise its enormity; to euphemize; --it is archaic.
Synonyms: palliate, moderate.
"Wonderful beings you men are," said Fulvia, mincing her words affectedly, "ever in search of danger […]"
Henry Herbert… The Roman Traitor
Luck was not one to mince his words when he had occasion to speak of disagreeable things.
B.M. Bower… The Heritage of the Sioux
*To mince the matter, or to mince matters: to tell something palliatively; to moderate one’s words, in order to disguise its enormity.
It is of no use to mince the matter. He had shown himself neither more nor less than a thief, a swindler.
Henry Wood… The Shadow of Ashlydyat
3. Metaphorically: to utter mincingly; to pronounce pretentiously (one's words); --sometimes with the adverb out.
She fancied she looked especially well and amiable, so soft, […] while mincing out her own “pretty speeches”
Mary Clarke… The iron cousin
“Had not I better send a friend?” Imlay minced out with affected unconcern.
Fraser's Magazine, vol. 52
4. Metaphorically: to perform mincingly.
“Don't be afraid, Harriet ; I'll go in the garden, and when I do, I'll walk so," putting her hands down close to her side as she spoke, and mincing her steps as if she was treading on something she was afraid of crushing.
Jane McIntosh… Aunt Kitty's Tales
In this attitude she advanced, brightening as she approached her mother, and mincing her steps with girlish sportiveness, till she came within a few paces of the bower.
George Darley… The Labours of Idleness
Intransitively: 1. a. To walk mincingly, or with ridiculous elegance.
I'd seen girls mincing from the bar to the stage on grotesquely swollen feet.
D. Cody… Candy Girl
She minced along, in all her vanity, on her return to Mrs. Latimer's.
Ellen Wood… East Lynne
My companion stared at me and made no answer, while I minced along the pavement, meditating on her silence.
Cornelia Bradley… At Home and Abroad
b. To speak mincingly, or with ridiculous elegance or demureness.
Words derived from Latin minuere: minish, comminute, diminish, diminution, minuend, minuting, minuted, minutely, minuteness, minuter, minuterie, minutious, minute, minishing, comminuting, comminuted, comminution, comminutor, diminishable, diminishableness, diminished, diminisher, diminishing, diminishingly, diminishment, diminute, diminutival, diminutive, diminutively, diminutiveness, diminutize, undiminishable, undiminishableness, undiminished, undiminishing.
Words derived from mince: mincing, mincingly.
