Mint (mĭnt) noun [ Anglo-Saxon minte , from Latin mentha , Greek mi`nqa , mi`nqh .] (Botany) The name of several aromatic labiate plants, mostly of the genus Mentha , yielding odoriferous essential oils by distillation. See Mentha .

» Corn mint is Mentha arvensis . -- Horsemint is M. sylvestris , and in the United States Monarda punctata , which differs from the true mints in several respects. -- Mountain mint is any species of the related genus Pycnanthemum , common in North America. -- Peppermint is M. piperita . -- Spearmint is M. viridis . -- Water mint is M. aquatica .

Mint camphor . (Chemistry) See Menthol . -- Mint julep . See Julep . -- Mint sauce , a sauce flavored with spearmint, for meats.

Mint noun [ Anglo-Saxon mynet money, coin, from Latin moneta the mint, coined money, from Moneta , a surname of Juno, in whose at Rome money was coined; akin to monere to warn, admonish, Anglo-Saxon manian , and to English mind . See Mind , and confer Money , Monition .]
1. A place where money is coined by public authority.

2. Hence: Any place regarded as a source of unlimited supply; the supply itself.

A mint of phrases in his brain.

Shak.

Mint transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Minted ; present participle & verbal noun Minting .] [ Anglo-Saxon mynetian .]

1. To make by stamping, as money; to coin; to make and stamp into money.

2. To invent; to forge; to fabricate; to fashion.

Titles . . . of such natures as may be easily minted .

Bacon.

Minting mill , a coining press.

Mint sauce
1. A sauce of vinegar and sugar flavored with spearmint leaves.

2. Money. [ Slang, Eng.]

Mint-master noun The master or superintendent of a mint. Also used figuratively.

Mintage noun
1. The coin, or other production, made in a mint.

Stamped in clay, a heavenly mintage .

Sterling.

2. The duty paid to the mint for coining.

Minter noun One who mints.

Mintman noun ; plural Mintmen One skilled in coining, or in coins; a coiner.

Minuend noun [ Latin minuendus to be diminished, from minuere to lessen, diminish. See Minish .] (Arith.) The number from which another number is to be subtracted.

Minuet noun [ French, from menu small, Latin minutus small. So called on account of the short steps of the dance. See 4th Minute .]

1. A slow graceful dance consisting of a coupee, a high step, and a balance.

2. (Mus.) A tune or air to regulate the movements of the dance so called; a movement in suites, sonatas, symphonies, etc., having the dance form, and commonly in 3-4, sometimes 3-8, measure.

Minum noun [ See 2d Minion , Minum , 6.] [ Obsolete]

1. A small kind of printing type; minion.

2. (Mus.) A minim.

Minus (mī"nŭs) adjective [ Latin See Minor , and confer Mis- prefix from the French.] (Math.) Less; requiring to be subtracted; negative; as, a minus quantity.

Minus sign (Math.) , the sign [ -] denoting minus , or less , prefixed to negative quantities, or quantities to be subtracted. See Negative sign , under Negative .

Minuscule noun [ Latin minusculus rather small, from minus less: confer French minuscule .]

1. Any very small, minute object.

2. A small Roman letter which is neither capital nor uncial; a manuscript written in such letters. -- adjective Of the size and style of minuscules; written in minuscules.

These minuscule letters are cursive forms of the earlier uncials.

I. Taylor (The Alphabet).

Minutary adjective Pertaining to, or consisting of, minutes. [ Obsolete] Fuller.

Minute noun [ Late Latin minuta a small portion, small coin, from Latin minutus small: confer French minute . See 4th Minute .]

1. The sixtieth part of an hour; sixty seconds. (Abbrev. m.; as, 4 h. 30 m. )

Four minutes , that is to say, minutes of an hour.

Chaucer.

2. The sixtieth part of a degree; sixty seconds (Marked thus (′); as, 10° 20′).

3. A nautical or a geographic mile.

4. A coin; a half farthing. [ Obsolete] Wyclif (Mark xii. 42)

5. A very small part of anything, or anything very small; a jot; a tittle. [ Obsolete]

Minutes and circumstances of his passion.

Jer. Taylor.

6. A point of time; a moment.

I go this minute to attend the king.

Dryden.

7. The memorandum; a record; a note to preserve the memory of anything; as, to take minutes of a contract; to take minutes of a conversation or debate.

8. (Architecture) A fixed part of a module. See Module .

» Different writers take as the minute one twelfth, one eighteenth, one thirtieth, or one sixtieth part of the module.

Minute adjective Of or pertaining to a minute or minutes; occurring at or marking successive minutes.

Minute bell , a bell tolled at intervals of a minute, as to give notice of a death or a funeral. -- Minute book , a book in which written minutes are entered. -- Minute glass , a glass measuring a minute or minutes by the running of sand. -- Minute gun , a discharge of a cannon repeated every minute as a sign of distress or mourning. -- Minute hand , the long hand of a watch or clock, which makes the circuit of the dial in an hour, and marks the minutes.

Minute transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Minuted ; present participle & verbal noun Minuting .] To set down a short sketch or note of; to jot down; to make a minute or a brief summary of.

The Empress of Russia, with her own hand, minuted an edict for universal tolerance.

Bancroft.

Minute adjective [ Latin minutus , past participle of minuere to lessen. See Minish , Minor , and confer Menu , Minuet .]

1. Very small; little; tiny; fine; slight; slender; inconsiderable. " Minute drops." Milton.

2. Attentive to small things; paying attention to details; critical; particular; precise; as, a minute observer; minute observation.

Syn. -- Little; diminutive; fine; critical; exact; circumstantial; particular; detailed. -- Minute , Circumstantial , Particular . A circumstantial account embraces all the leading events; a particular account includes each event and movement, though of but little importance; a minute account goes further still, and omits nothing as to person, time, place, adjuncts, etc.

Minute-jack noun
1. A figure which strikes the hour on the bell of some fanciful clocks; -- called also jack of the clock house .

2. A timeserver; an inconstant person. Shak.

Minutely adverb [ From 4th Minute .] In a minute manner; with minuteness; exactly; nicely.

Minutely adjective [ From 1st Minute .] Happening every minute; continuing; unceasing. [ Obsolete]

Throwing themselves absolutely upon God's minutely providence.

Hammond.

Minutely adverb At intervals of a minute; very often and regularly. J. Philips.

Minutely proclaimed in thunder from heaven.

Hammond.

Minuteman noun ; plural Minutemen A militiaman who was to be ready to march at a moment's notice; -- a term used in the American Revolution.

Minuteness noun The quality of being minute.

Minutia noun ; plural Minutiæ (-ē). [ Latin , from minutus small, minute. See 4th Minute .] A minute particular; a small or minor detail; -- used chiefly in the plural.

Minx noun [ Prob. of Low German origin; confer LG. minsk wench, jade, hussy, Dutch mensch ; prop. the same word as D. & German mensch man, human being, Old High German mennisco , Anglo-Saxon mennisc , from man . See Man .]

1. A pert or a wanton girl. Shak.

2. A she puppy; a pet dog. [ Obsolete] Udall.

Minx noun [ See Mink .] (Zoology) The mink; -- called also minx otter . [ Obsolete]

Miny (mīn"ȳ) adjective Abounding with mines; like a mine. " Miny caverns." Thomson.

Minyan noun (Jewish Relig.) A quorum, or number necessary, for conducting public worship.

Miocene (mī"o*sēn) adjective [ Greek mei`wn less + kaino`s new, fresh, recent.] (Geol.) Of or pertaining to the middle division of the Tertiary. -- noun The Miocene period. See Chart of Geology .

Miohippus noun [ New Latin , from Greek mei`wn less + "ippo`s horse.] (Paleon.) An extinct Miocene mammal of the Horse family, closely related to the genus Anhithecrium , and having three usable hoofs on each foot.

Miquelet noun [ Spanish miquelete .] (Mil.) An irregular or partisan soldier; a bandit.

Mir noun A Russian village community. D. M. Wallace.

Mir noun [ Persian mīr .] Same as Emir .

Mira noun [ New Latin , from Latin mirus wonderful.] (Astron.) A remarkable variable star in the constellation Cetus ( ο Ceti ).

Mirabilary noun ; plural Mirabilaries One who, or a work which, narrates wonderful things; one who writes of wonders. [ Obsolete] Bacon.

Mirabilis noun [ Latin , wonderful.] (Botany) A genus of plants. See Four- o'clock .

Mirabilite noun (Min.) Native sodium sulphate; Glauber's salt.

Mirable adjective [ Latin mirabilis , from mirari to wonder: confer Old French mirable . See Marvel .] Wonderful; admirable. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Miracle noun [ French, from Latin miraculum , from mirari to wonder. See Marvel , and confer Mirror .]

1. A wonder or wonderful thing.

That miracle and queen of genus.

Shak.

2. Specifically: An event or effect contrary to the established constitution and course of things, or a deviation from the known laws of nature; a supernatural event, or one transcending the ordinary laws by which the universe is governed.

They considered not the miracle of the loaves.

Mark vi. 52.

3. A miracle play.

4. A story or legend abounding in miracles. [ Obsolete]

When said was all this miracle .

Chaucer.

Miracle monger , an impostor who pretends to work miracles. -- Miracle play , one of the old dramatic entertainments founded on legends of saints and martyrs or (see 2d Mystery , 2) on events related in the Bible.

Miracle transitive verb To make wonderful. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Miraculize transitive verb To cause to seem to be a miracle. [ R.] Shaftesbury.

Miraculous adjective [ French miraculeux . See Miracle .]

1. Of the nature of a miracle; performed by supernatural power; effected by the direct agency of almighty power, and not by natural causes.

2. Supernatural; wonderful.

3. Wonder-working. "The miraculous harp." Shak.

-- Mi*rac"u*lous*ly , adverb -- Mi*rac"u*lous*ness , noun

Mirador noun [ Spanish , from mirar to behold, view. See Mirror .] (Architecture) Same as Belvedere .

Mirage noun [ French, from mirer to look at carefully, to aim, se mirer to look at one's self in a glass, to reflect, to be reflected, Late Latin mirare to look at. See Mirror .] An optical effect, sometimes seen on the ocean, but more frequently in deserts, due to total reflection of light at the surface common to two strata of air differently heated. The reflected image is seen, commonly in an inverted position, while the real object may or may not be in sight. When the surface is horizontal, and below the eye, the appearance is that of a sheet of water in which the object is seen reflected; when the reflecting surface is above the eye, the image is seen projected against the sky. The fata Morgana and looming are species of mirage .

By the mirage uplifted the land floats vague in the ether,
Ships and the shadows of ships hang in the motionless air.

Longfellow.

Mirbane noun See Nitrobenzene .

Mire (mīr) noun [ Anglo-Saxon mīre , mȳre ; akin to Dutch mier , Icelandic maurr , Danish myre , Swedish myra ; confer also Ir. moirbh , Greek my`rmhx .] An ant. [ Obsolete] See Pismire .

Mire noun [ Middle English mire , myre ; akin to Icelandic mȳrr swamp, Swedish myra marshy ground, and perhaps to English moss .] Deep mud; wet, spongy earth. Chaucer.

He his rider from the lofty steed
Would have cast down and trod in dirty mire .

Spenser.

Mire crow (Zoology) , the pewit, or laughing gull. [ Prov. Eng.] -- Mire drum , the European bittern. [ Prov. Eng.]

Mire transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Mired ; present participle & verbal noun Miring .]

1. To cause or permit to stick fast in mire; to plunge or fix in mud; as, to mire a horse or wagon.

2. To soil with mud or foul matter.

Smirched thus and mired with infamy.

Shak.

Mire intransitive verb To stick in mire. Shak.

Mirific, Mirifical adjective [ Latin mirificus ; mirus wonderful + -ficare (in comp.) to make. See -fy .] Working wonders; wonderful.

Mirificent adjective Wonderful. [ Obsolete]