ˈmint-master
[f. mint n.1: cf. Du. munt meester, G. münzmeister.]
1. An officer of the mint whose duty it is to superintend the coinage of money.
| 1528 in Lett. & Pap. Hen. VIII, IV. ii. 1723 Th'artycles that we ben sworn to consernyng the mynt maysters. 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 279 The principall Officer is the Warden of the Mint; next is the Mint-master. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) I. 15 note, Of William is a curious seal, as Mint-master. 1845 Selby in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. No. 13. 160 note, In æthelred's mint were upwards of forty mintmasters. 1879 H. Phillips Notes Coins 14 The daughter of the mint-master stood in one scale while her weight in Massachusetts shillings was poured into the other for her dowry. |
2. fig. A ‘coiner’ of new ideas, words, etc. Common in 17th c.; now rare or Obs.
| 1599 Broughton's Let. ix. 30 The graund Mintmaster of learning in our age. Ibid. 47 You will be counted..the mintmaster of fancies. 1641 Milton Animadv. Wks. 1851 III. 204 The odde coinage of your phrase, which no mint⁓maister of language would allow for sterling. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iii. x. §2 The great Mint-Masters of these kind of Terms, I mean the School-men and Metaphysicians. |