mim, a. orig. Sc. and dial.
(mɪm)
[Imitative of the action of pursing up the mouth; cf. mum.]
a. Affectedly modest, demure, primly silent or quiet. Also ‘affecting great moderation in eating and drinking’ (Jam.).
| ? 1679 M{supc}Ward in Earnest Contend. Faith (1723) 323 The best of our Synods (for as mim as we have made it to this Day) are justly chargeable with the Blood of that renowned Martyr [Guthrie]. 1715 Ramsay Christis Kirke Gr. ii. 48 She was..mim that day. 1768 Ross Helenore (1789) 106 Now Nory all the while was playing prim, As ony lamb as modest, and as mim; And never a look with Lindy did lat fa'. 1785 Fergusson's Prov. 24 Maidens should be mim till they're married, and then they may burn kirks. 1816 Scott Bl. Dwarf ii, Did I not say it wasna want o' spunk that made ye [sc. the young Laird] sae mim? a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Mim, primly silent, with lips closed lest a stray word should escape. 1880 Mrs. Parr Adam & Eve xiii, Worth twenty o' that stuck-up London consarn, with her pasty face and mim ways. 1891 R. T. Cooke Huckleberries 96 She was a mim, soft-spoken woman, but guileful and gliding as a snake. 1959 ‘J. Ross’ Boy in Grey Overcoat viii. 93 That mim curl of grey hair across the back of her head. 1960 Auden Homage to Clio 56 Before you catch it for your mim look and gnostic chirrup. |
b. Used adverbially.
| 1786 Burns Holy Fair xvi, See, up he's got the word o' G—, An' meek an' mim has view'd it. |
c. Comb., as mim-looking, mim-spoken; also mim-mouthed, ‘reserved in discourse, not communicative, implying the idea of affectation of modesty’ (Jam.). Also fig. Hence mim-mouthedness.
| 1721 Ramsay Lucky Spence iii, Mim-mou'd Meg. 1820 Smugglers I. xiii. 164 I'm no for being mim mou'd when there's no reason; but a man had as gude, whiles, cast a knot on his tongue. 1849 C. Brontë Shirley vii, Some o' t' bonniest and mimest looking too. 1889 Sat. Rev. 12 Jan. 37/1 That ‘mimmouthedness’ which has become a fashion of late. 1896 ‘Leslie Keith’ Indian Uncle xi. 189 Douce, plod-plodding, mim-spoken lads. |