▪ I. mincing, vbl. n.
(ˈmɪnsɪŋ)
[f. mince v. + -ing1.]
1. The action of chopping or cutting up into very small pieces; † concr. a small shred or piece (of meat, etc.).
| 1598 Florio, Sminuzzoli, mincings, mammocks, shreds or small peeces. 1626 Bacon Sylva §54 Mincing of meat, as in Pies,..saueth the Grinding of the Teeth. 1638 Rawley tr. Bacon's Life & Death (1650) 47 Gravies of Meat, and the Mincings of them small well-seasoned. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 797 Scarification consists in a mincing of the lupus tissue by the knife. |
2. The action of extenuating, minimizing, palliating, or glossing over a matter; the suppression of part of a fact or statement.
| α 1533 More Debell. Salem Wks. 964/2 The myncynge of suche matters. a 1591 H. Smith Wks. (1866–7) I. 449 A spiritual ear can hear God reproving this land for this mincing of his worship. 1701 Norris Ideal World i. ii. 131 What means this mincing and this disguising of a plain and unavoidable truth? 1866 Felton Anc. & Mod. Gr. I. 100 If they [Homer's characters] get angry, out it comes,..with no mincing of phrase. |
| β 1604 T. Wright Passions (1620) 290 It is admirable how the minching and particularizing of the object of delight increaseth and augmenteth delight. |
3. The action or habit of speaking or acting in an affectedly nice or elegant manner.
| 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, ii. iii. 31 Which guifts (Sauing your mincing) the capacity Of your soft Chiuerell Conscience, would receiue. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xii, Such shalt thou be, for all thy mincing and ambling [etc.]. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as mincing-horse, a wooden horse or stand on which whale-blubber is minced or chopped; mincing-knife, a knife used in mincing meat, etc.; also in whaling, for cutting up blubber into small pieces; mincing-machine, a machine for mincing meat, etc.; also for cutting up blubber; mincing-spade, a spade used for cutting up blubber.
| 1586 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees) II. 149, ij minsinge knives. 1634 in Anc. Invent. (Halliw. 1854) 18, 3 beefe forks, 2 mincinge knyves, 1 cleaver [etc.]. 1874 C. M. Scammon Marine Mammals 238 The blubber is transported in strap-tubs to the mincing-horse, where the ordinary two-handled knife is used. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Mincing-machine,..a sausage-machine. 1884 Ibid. Suppl., Mincing-knife (Whaling). Ibid., Mincing machine, a machine with knives on a roller, used in cutting blubber small for trying. Ibid., Mincing spade. 1885 Pall Mall G. 31 Mar. 3/2 The Eastbourne board of guardians have ordered a mincing machine to be supplied for the use of aged and toothless paupers in their workhouse. |
▪ II. mincing, ppl. a.
(ˈmɪnsɪŋ)
[f. mince v. + -ing2.]
1. That minimizes, extenuates, or diminishes.
| 1581 T. Howell Deuises (1879) 233 My symple meaning plaine, not carued with mincing stile. 1593 Rainolds Overthrow Stage-pl. (1599) 108 My speech was too minsing, when I named bawderie. If I had termed it most filthy beastly bawderie, my wordes had bene broder, though not brode enough yet. a 1640 J. Ball Answ. to Canne i. (1642) 127 Your minsing figure of extenuation. 1778 Mrs. Scott in Doran Lady of last Cent. x. (1873) 242, I hate those mincing names, designed only to palliate wrong actions. 1827 Scott Jrnl. 10 Mar., The mincing English edition in which he has hitherto been alone known. |
2. Of speech, gait, mien, etc.: Affectedly dainty or elegant.
| 1530 Palsgr. 830/2 A mynsynge pace, le pas menu. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. iv. 67 Ile..turne two minsing steps Into a manly stride. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) II. 4 The fawning and soft glances of a mincing smile. 1727 Pope, etc. Art of Sinking 111 The Finical Style, which consists of the most curious, affected, mincing metaphors. 1776 F. Burney Early Diary 2 Dec., Her voice low, and delicate, and mincing. 1848 Dickens Dombey i, Possibly her mincing gait encouraged the belief, and suggested that her clipping of a step of ordinary compass into two or three, originated in her habit of making the most of everything. 1861 Geo. Eliot Silas M. iii, ‘Oho’, said Dunsey..trying to speak in a small mincing treble. 1893 A. Griffiths Secrets Prison Ho. II. iv. ii. 63 She walked with a mincing, self-satisfied air down the passage. |
b. Of a person: Speaking, walking, or behaving, in an affectedly dainty or nice manner.
| 1560 Ingelend Disob. Child D j b, This myncing Trull. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. ii. 37 Fitt mate for such a mincing mineon. 1634 Milton Comus 964 As Mercury did first devise With the mincing Dryades On the Lawns. 1700 Dryden Fables Pref. C 1 b, Distinguish'd from each other as much as the mincing Lady Prioress and the broad-speaking gap-tooth'd Wife of Bathe. 1849 James Woodman vii, I can be as delicate and mincing as a serving maid should need be. 1887 A. J. C. Hare Story my Life xxiv. (1900) VI. 94 [She] frightened a mincing curate out of his life. |
c. In jingling reduplication. ? nonce-use.
| 1822 Moore in Mem. (1853) IV. 7 The mincing-pincing style of talking among the French women. |
Hence ˈmincingness.
| 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt xix, That frigid mincingness called dignity. |