Mineralization noun [ Confer French minéralisation .]

1. The process of mineralizing, or forming a mineral by combination of a metal with another element; also, the process of converting into a mineral, as a bone or a plant.

2. The act of impregnating with a mineral, as water.

3. (Botany) The conversion of a cell wall into a material of a stony nature.

Mineralize transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Mineralized ; present participle & verbal noun Mineralizing .] [ Confer French minéraliser .]

1. To transform into a mineral.

In these caverns the bones are not mineralized .

Buckland.

2. To impregnate with a mineral; as, mineralized water.

Mineralize intransitive verb To go on an excursion for observing and collecting minerals; to mineralogize.

Mineralize transitive verb To charge or impregnate with ore.

Mineralizer noun An element which is combined with a metal, thus forming an ore. Thus, in galena, or lead ore, sulphur is a mineralizer ; in hematite, oxygen is a mineralizer .

Mineralogical adjective [ Confer French minéralogique . See Mineralogy .] Of or pertaining to mineralogy; as, a mineralogical table.

Mineralogically adverb According to the principles of, or with reference to, mineralogy.

Mineralogist noun [ Confer French minéralogiste .]

1. One versed in mineralogy; one devoted to the study of minerals.

2. (Zoology) A carrier shell ( Phorus ).

Mineralogize intransitive verb To study mineralogy by collecting and examining minerals. Miss Edgeworth.

Mineralogy noun ; plural Mineralogies . [ Mineral + -logy : confer French minéralogie .]

1. The science which treats of minerals, and teaches how to describe, distinguish, and classify them.

2. A treatise or book on this science.

Minerva noun [ Latin ] (Rom. Myth.) The goddess of wisdom, of war, of the arts and sciences, of poetry, and of spinning and weaving; -- identified with the Grecian Pallas Athene.

Minette noun The smallest of regular sizes of portrait photographs.

Minever noun Same as Miniver .

Minge transitive verb [ Anglo-Saxon myngian ; akin to English mind .] To mingle; to mix. [ Obsolete]

Minge noun [ Prob. corrupt. from midge .] (Zoology) A small biting fly; a midge. [ Local, U. S.]

Mingle transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Mingled ; present participle & verbal noun Mingling .] [ From Middle English mengen , Anglo-Saxon mengan ; akin to D. & German mengen , Icelandic menga , also to English among , and possibly to mix . Confer Among , Mongrel .]

1. To mix; intermix; to combine or join, as an individual or part, with other parts, but commonly so as to be distinguishable in the product; to confuse; to confound.

There was . . . fire mingled with the hail.

Ex. ix. 24.

2. To associate or unite in society or by ties of relationship; to cause or allow to intermarry; to intermarry.

The holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands.

Ezra ix. 2.

3. To deprive of purity by mixture; to contaminate.

A mingled , imperfect virtue.

Rogers.

4. To put together; to join. [ Obsolete] Shak.

5. To make or prepare by mixing the ingredients of.

[ He] proceeded to mingle another draught.

Hawthorne.

Mingle intransitive verb To become mixed or blended.

Mingle noun A mixture. [ Obsolete] Dryden.

Mingle-mangle transitive verb [ Reduplicated from mingle .] To mix in a disorderly way; to make a mess of. [ Obsolete] Udall.

Mingle-mangle noun A hotchpotch. [ Obsolete] Latimer.

Mingleable adjective That can be mingled. Boyle.

Mingledly adverb Confusedly.

Minglement noun The act of mingling, or the state of being mixed.

Mingler noun One who mingles.

Minglingly adverb In a mingling manner.

Miniard adjective Migniard. [ Obsolete]

Miniardize transitive verb To render delicate or dainty. [ Obsolete] Howell.

Miniate transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Miniated ; present participle & verbal noun Miniating .] [ Latin miniatus , past participle of miniare . See Minium .] To paint or tinge with red lead or vermilion; also, to decorate with letters, or the like, painted red, as the page of a manuscript. T. Wharton.

Miniate adjective Of or pertaining to the color of red lead or vermilion; painted with vermilion.

Miniature noun [ Italian miniatura , from Latin miniare . See Miniate , v. , Minium .]

1. Originally, a painting in colors such as those in mediæval manuscripts; in modern times, any very small painting, especially a portrait.

2. Greatly diminished size or form; reduced scale.

3. Lettering in red; rubric distinction. [ Obsolete]

4. A particular feature or trait. [ Obsolete] Massinger.

Miniature adjective Being on a small scale; much reduced from the reality; as, a miniature copy.

Miniature transitive verb To represent or depict in a small compass, or on a small scale.

Miniaturist noun A painter of miniatures.

Minibus noun [ Latin minor less + -bus , as in omnibus .] A kind of light passenger vehicle, carrying four persons.

Minie ball [ From the inventor, Captain Minié , of France.] A conical rifle bullet, with a cavity in its base plugged with a piece of iron, which, by the explosion of the charge, is driven farther in, expanding the sides to fit closely the grooves of the barrel.

Minie rifle A rifle adapted to minie balls.

Minify transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Minified ; present participle & verbal noun Minifying .] [ Latin minor less + -fly .]

1. To make small, or smaller; to diminish the apparent dimensions of; to lessen.

2. To degrade by speech or action.

Minikin noun [ OD. minneken a darling, dim. of minne love; akin to German minne , and to English mind .]

1. A little darling; a favorite; a minion. [ Obsolete] Florio.

2. A little pin. [ Obsolete]

Minikin adjective Small; diminutive. Shak.

Minim noun [ French minime , Latin minimus the least, smallest, a superl. of minor : confer Italian minima a note in music. See Minor , and confer Minimum .]

1. Anything very minute; as, the minims of existence; -- applied to animalcula; and the like.

2. The smallest liquid measure, equal to about one drop; the sixtieth part of a fluid drachm.

3. (Zoology) A small fish; a minnow. [ Prov. Eng.]

4. A little man or being; a dwarf. [ Obsolete] Milton.

5. (Eccl. Hist.) One of an austere order of mendicant hermits or friars founded in the 15th century by St. Francis of Paola.

6. (Mus.) A time note, formerly the shortest in use; a half note, equal to half a semibreve, or two quarter notes or crotchets.

7. A short poetical encomium. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Minim adjective Minute. " Minim forms." J. R. Drake.

Minimal adjective Of, pertaining to, or having a character of, a minim or minimum; least; smallest; as, a minimal amount or value.

Miniment noun [ Prob. corrupt. of moniment .] A trifle; a trinket; a token. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Minimization noun The act or process of minimizing. Bentham.

Minimize transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Minimized ; present participle & verbal noun Minimizing .] To reduce to the smallest part or proportion possible; to reduce to a minimum. Bentham.

Minimum noun ; plural Minima . [ Latin , from minimus . See Minim .] The least quantity assignable, admissible, or possible, in a given case; hence, a thing of small consequence; -- opposed to maximum .

Minimum thermometer , a thermometer for recording the lowest temperature since its last adjustment.

Minimus noun ; plural Minimi . [ Latin See Minim .]
1. A being of the smallest size. [ Obsolete] Shak.

2. (Anat.) The little finger; the fifth digit, or that corresponding to it, in either the manus or pes.

Mining noun [ See Mine , intransitive verb ] The act or business of making mines or of working them.

Mining adjective Of or pertaining to mines; as, mining engineer; mining machinery; a mining region.

Mining engineering . See the Note under Engineering .