mini-, prefix
combining form of miniature a. (reinforced by the first letters of minimum a.), used to designate things that are very small of their kind.
A prefix much in vogue from the 1960s. Only a selection from the virtually unlimited number of combs. is illustrated here. The examples are arranged in alphabetical order of the combs. for convenience of reference.
| 1966 Daily Tel. 24 Oct. 11/1 The demand for a prototype female briefcase has been underlined by a strong season of mini-bag fashions—little swinging double-sided dog lead bags that made the absence of a briefcase for women all the more apparent. |
| 1962 Punch 12 Dec. 878/1 A cycle firm is bringing out a mini-bike. 1970 Time 2 Nov. 56 Half-size (or even smaller) motor-cycles... Recession or no, minibikes seem to be all over, but nowhere are they more visible than in Los Angeles. |
| 1960 House & Garden Oct. 135 (Advt.), Hygena think of details—..like built-in bread bins,..Minibins, refrigerators. 1968 Economist 10 Feb. 46/3 Capital investment shows no signs (yet) of re-energising—and it shouldn't, despite the mini-boom. 1968 Observer 22 Dec. 21/7 A mini-bottle of Gala's nail polish (Little Gems 4s. 4d. a bottle). 1970 Jrnl. Gen. Psychol. LXXXIII. 155 Either S or E could activate the green light by depressing the button on a minibox situated in front of each of them. |
| 1961 ‘R. M. Dashwood’ Provincial Daughter 55 Squalid piles of dust, marbles and minibricks. 1966 Times Rev. Industry Sept. 63/3 With the ‘mini-budget’ having withdrawn another {pstlg}500m. from internal demand. 1971 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 24 Nov. 1/7 The vessels were described as ‘mini-bulkers’, small ships..for ferrying cargoes. |
| 1936 Miniature Camera Mag. Dec. 4/2 It is perhaps to be expected that all sorts and conditions of industries and businesses should have sprung up around the successful Minicamera. 1964 Punch 21 Oct. 592/1 Mini-holidays, mini-cameras, mini-tellies. 1971 Author LXXXII. 108 Outside such writer-populated districts as Hampstead or Chelsea, even minor authors may be mini-celebrities, and so news. |
| 1968 Economist 27 Apr. 79/2 America..might well take chief responsibility for producing the Olivetti mini-computers as that is where chief demand lies. 1973 Business Week 8 Dec. 69/1 Today, a $2,000 minicomputer is more powerful, more reliable, and easier to use than the big, $100,000 machines of a decade ago. |
| 1963 Aeroplane 24 Jan. 25/2 A one-man autogyro with an estimated selling price of {pstlg}1000 was demonstrated recently in South Africa... This ‘mini-copter’ is said to be in production already. 1971 Time 19 Apr. 60 But, like a stabbing pain that passes quickly, the mini-crisis was a warning that the dollar faces more trouble. |
| 1967 Spectator 15 Sept. 300/2 Now a new type of winter holiday is offered by several lines—the ‘mini’ cruise. 1969 Daily Tel. 13 Feb. 27/6 Results in the ‘mini-elections’ in India's four northern States..show the once all-powerful Congress Party to be humbled also in the Punjab and Bihar. 1969 Times 27 Jan. 10/8 It will have a 30-acre ‘mini-farm’ for practical training on its doorstep. 1973 C. Bonington Next Horizon xix. 259 There was a long pause and then we saw the green miniflare which was the signal to follow. |
| 1954 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 24 Apr. 60 The world famous Philips Minigroove 331/3 Long Playing Records. 1968 New Yorker 16 Mar. 43 Armed with three 7·62-mm. machine guns, called miniguns, which could fire a hundred rounds per second. 1969 I. Kemp Brit. G.I. in Vietnam vi. 117 The deep sustained roar of the dragonships' mini-guns. |
| 1963 Daily Tel. 12 Nov. 17/3 A proposal that ‘mini-houses’ should be built to cater for people in lower income groups. 1963 Ibid. 6 June 15/5 (heading) Mini-jet as Paris ‘ferry’ to air show. 1967 Word Study Dec. 3/1 The sphere of clothing is..well represented with..mini-jupe, [etc.]. 1973 Publishers Weekly 18 June 35/1 Underage hopefuls in mini-jupes. |
| 1969 Sunday Times 6 Apr. 53 Of course, describing these as mini-kilts makes the purist splutter in his porridge. 1974 People's Jrnl. (Inverness & Northern Counties ed.) 24 Aug. 3/5 Last Friday, during the great float-out, the pair donned mini-kilt outfits and became hostesses to the many guests attending the ceremony. |
| 1963 Daily Tel. 13 Apr. 15/4 The mini-lifeboats..will be normally manned by a crew of two. 1963 Aeroplane 21 Mar. 9/2 The third D.H. 125 ‘mini-liner’ is shortly to go into service with Bristol Siddeley Engines. 1973 Courier & Advertiser (Dundee) 7 Aug. 7/2 The Fred Olsen mini-liner Basel is due over the weekend with 500 tons of paper from Norway. |
| 1972 N.Y. Times 4 June 4/8 The six-mile Crazylegs minimarathon. |
| 1963 Times 29 May 15/2 Most of these countries have tiny internal markets—‘mini-markets’ Mr. Gates calls them. 1966 J. Porter Sour Cream iv. 45, I must have been out of my mini-mind to let myself be manoeuvred into this ridiculous, and dangerous, situation. |
| 1965 Guardian 25 Aug. 16/8 Irresponsible action by a few mini-minded strikers. |
| 1959 Motor Show Catal. 497 Mini-Minor Saloon de Luxe. 1973 Guardian 8 May 2 (heading) Mini-Nuclear arms seen as ‘wishful-thinking’. |
| 1954 Life 29 Nov. 83 The new ‘mini-pig’..is ideal for medical research, which is what he was bred for. 1970 Daily Tel. 29 May 5/1 The new mini-pigs..at about 140 pounds are four to five times lighter than the farm variety. 1970 New Scientist 29 Jan. 187/1 The minipill was developed for one reason alone: because it was believed to provide safe contraception. |
| 1967 Sunday Times 14 May 12/7 Expo's own minirail system passes on a slender viaduct. 1967 Word Study Dec. 3/2 A financial analyst reports the good news that 1967 has experienced only a mini-recession. 1970 Times 17 Mar. 27 Another aspect of the current apprehension is linked to the ‘mini-recession’ in the American motor industry. |
| 1967 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 14 Nov. 18 The collection will include mini-shifts which can double as pant tops teamed with matching slacks or shorts, or can be co-ordinated with bikinis for beach wear. 1969 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 24 Jan. 17/2 A girl in a mini-shift. 1971 Time 1 Feb. 32 In Paris, minishorts are an every⁓night, run-of-the-disco affair. 1973 Times 27 Nov. 16/2 The arrival of the mini-short in preference to the old baggy maxi-pants. |
| 1967 Time 17 Mar. 36 For added balance, ski bobbers wear mini-skis fitted with braking crampons on both feet. 1974 Maclean's Mag. Jan. 25/3 On our GLM mini skis, we were led out to the beginners' hill, which could not have been more than 100 feet away over almost perfectly level ground. |
| 1966 Economist 31 Dec. 1385/1 The ‘mini-states’ must, for the sake of their own reputations and the UN's, accept a system of weighted voting. 1968 N.Y. Times 26 Jan. 70 South Africa's economic predominance radiates from here to the three ministates of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. 1973 Nation (Barbados) 16 Dec. 4/2 Without the eventual federation of the unit territories or a confederation of independent mini⁓states, the West Indies have no future. |
| 1959 Chambers's 20th Cent. Dict. Suppl., Mini-sub(marine). 1966 New Scientist 22 Sept. 655/2 The mini-sub Alvin which was used for recovering the H-bomb lost off the Spanish coast. |
| 1963 Flight Internat. LXXXIII. 25/1 There has been a great deal of unofficial talk about ‘mini-submarines’ carrying one or two Polaris apiece, and also of a larger vessel carrying eight missiles. 1973 Reader's Digest Apr. 58/2 To complement the divers, mini-submarines less than 20 feet long are used by the airman for underwater surveying. |
| 1968 Saturday Night (Toronto) Sept. 36 Elaine Bedard, wearing a flared pink leather minisuit, awaited him in his Mercedes-Benz. 1971 ‘V. X. Scott’ Surrogate Wife 254 Under the coat she wore a cream-coloured mini⁓suit. |
| 1967 Times 18 May 23 Whisky is to be exported from Scotland by pipeline and ‘minitanker’, the shipping firm of Christian Salvesen and Co., of Leith, announced yesterday. 1971 New Scientist 2 Sept. 520 Petrol is supplied free, either by the client filling up at the company's garage or from a mini-tanker which regularly visits the special parking places. |
| 1967 Economist 29 Apr. 484/3 BMC has come off even worse, working short time on truck manufacturing and likely to drop its ill-fated mini⁓tractor. |
| 1966 Punch 14 Sept. 380/3 Hardy Amies's mini⁓trousers Are the latest passion-rousers. |
| 1960 Guardian 30 Dec. 12/1 The first of the new vehicles to be used for road patrols will be Austin Minivans. 1968 H. C. Rae Few Small Bones ii. viii. 142 Small personal items were taken by mini-van to the new flat. |
| 1966 Economist 10 Dec. 1112/2 The day may eventually come when the big powers will stand back and permit a nuclear mini-war between smaller countries. |
b. Special combinations:
minicab [
cab n.3], a car like a taxi but available only if ordered in advance;
minicam, a miniature camera; so as
v. trans.;
minicar, (
a) a small motor car (
cf. mini n. 1); (
b) a child's toy model of a motor car;
minicell Biol., a miniature cell, without nuclear material, produced by the division of individuals of a particular strain of the bacterium
Escherichia coli;
mini-coat, a short coat, one not reaching to the knee;
mini-dress, a dress with a mini-skirt;
Mini-Moke,
mini-moke, a small motor vehicle resembling a jeep;
cf. Moke4;
mini-ness = tininess;
Minipiano, (a proprietary name of) a small piano; also
minipiano;
Miniprinter, a proprietary name of a type of small machine for printing tickets;
mini-skirt,
miniskirt, a very short skirt; hence
miniskirted a., wearing or having a mini-skirt.
| 1960 Economist 12 Nov. 711/3 Current regulations regarding London taxis would not allow the introduction of what Mr. Dennis Vosper, speaking for the Home Office, called ‘minicabs’. 1961 Daily Tel. 6 June 19/6 London's taxi war, between regular taximen and minicab operators, took a new turn yesterday. 1965 Spectator 12 Mar. 322/3, I travelled by mini-cab from Baker Street to Kensington. 1973 Times 29 Nov. 4/7 A mini-cab operator..was sentenced to four years. |
| 1937 Amer. Speech XII. 236/2 A professor at the University of Wisconsin minicammed his students during an examination. 1939 Webster Add., Minicam, short for miniature camera. 1940 Graves & Hodge Long Week-End xxv. 432 Their photographs, largely contributed by ‘minicam’ amateurs. 1948 C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident iii. 28 Penknives, Minicars, balls..the sort of oddments you keep in your pocket. 1949 Light Car Dec. 599/2 Three-wheelers... The 122 c.c. Bond Minicar. 1963 Spectator 1 Nov. 558 To say Britain came late into the minicar race is to miss the point. 1967 H. I. Adler et al. in Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. LVII. 321 A newly isolated strain of Escherichia coli K12 regularly produces a large number of unusually small anucleate cells during the logarithmic phase of growth. These small cells do not divide... In this report we communicate information regarding some of the basic properties of these minicells. 1971 Nature 3 Sept. 11/1 Although minicells, small enucleate Escherichia coli, have been used occasionally by molecular biologists, it seems safe to say that they became available too late in the game. |
| 1966 Guardian 8 Sept. 7/3 Topcoats were mini-coats—a little more than loose jackets. 1967 Britannica Bk. of Year (U.S.) 338 Rabbit had been dyed in new and heady shades—orange, mauve, navy, shocking pink, bright green—to fashion double-breasted minicoats and pea jackets. |
| 1965 Christian Sci. Monitor 20 Nov. 30 The fashion pages of British papers sport mini-dresses. 1966 Daily Tel. 17 Oct. 10/6 The skinny model girl loped down the runway at Marlborough House in her horizontally-striped mini-dress. |
| 1962 Ibid. 13 Feb. 15/4 In the BMC vehicle, named Mini-Moke, the drive is confined to the front wheels. 1972 D. Francis Smokescreen i. 10 No one had bothered to put the canvas over the Minimoke. 1974 H. MacInnes Climb to Lost World iii. 46 Jonathan drove a mini-moke with Greek lettering emblazoned upon it. |
| 1964 Punch 21 Oct. 592/1 Car itself victim of over-exposure, flaunting its mini-ness. 1967 New Scientist 13 Apr. 94/1 The current preoccupation with ‘mini-ness’ has now extended into the realm of..microbiology. |
| 1934 Trade Marks Jrnl. 4 Apr. 434/2 Minipiano... Pianos. Brasted Bros. Ltd.,..London,..piano manufacturers; and C.A.V. Lundholm Aktiebolag (a Joint Stock Company organised under the laws of Sweden),..Sweden; merchants. 1943 H. W. Van Loon Lives xviii. 558 He..went over to the little minipiano which had been wished on Frits and now stood at the foot of the stairs. 1947 A. H. Howe Sci. Piano Tuning (rev. ed.) xxi. 96 Tuning the 73 note minipiano is quite different from the conventional mode. 1949 Electronic Engin. XXI. 461/2 It is intermediate in size between a minipiano and a small upright piano. 1949 Railway Gaz. 6 May 510/2 The equipment exhibited by Westinghouse Garrard Ticket Machines Limited at..Olympia, includes... The Westinghouse mini-printer,..with four or six printing units. 1958 Times 11 Feb. 15/3 The company also supplies rapid and mini printers, as used in booking offices of the London Transport Executive. 1965 Vogue Aug. 53 Mini skirt,..snakeskin belt. 1965 Economist 20 Nov. 862/1 The Fashion House Group of London dumbfounded the..audience of American buyers quite as much by the sight of the British aggressively selling as by their mini-skirts and kooky outfits. 1970 G. F. Newman Sir, You Bastard viii. 243 There were more miniskirts around three o'clock on a warm May afternoon. 1971 B. Malamud Tenants 54 Had Mary Kettlesmith described his acrobatics with her miniskirt? |
| 1966 Listener 30 June 955/1 The mini-skirted or levied young. 1972 F. Warner Maquettes 19 Pretty, miniskirted, and attractive young lady. |