mine definition

English mine definition

Pronunciation

• enPR: mīn, IPA^(key): /maɪ̯n/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪn

Etymology 1

From Middle English min, myn, from Old English mīn, from Proto-West Germanic *mīn, from Proto-Germanic *mīnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *méynos.

Cognate with Saterland Frisian mien, West Frisian myn, Dutch mijn, Low German mien, German mein, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian min, Icelandic mín.

Alternative forms

• myne (obsolete)

Pronoun

mine

1. That which belongs to me.
   1. Used predicatively.

      The house itself is mine, but the land is not.

   2. Used substantively, with an implied noun.

      Mine has been a long journey.

   3. Used absolutely, set off from the sentence.

      Mine for only a week so far, it already feels like an old friend.

   Used otherwise not directly before the possessed noun. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Determiner

mine

1. My; belonging to me.
   1. (archaic) Used attributively after the noun it modifies.
      • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

        […] Flesh and blood, / You, brother mine, that entertain'd ambition, / […]

   2. (archaic) Used attributively before a vowel.
      • 1862 February, Julia Ward Howe, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”, in The Atlantic Monthly, volume IX, number LII, page 10:

        Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord: / […]

      • 1930 Winter, Packard Motor Car Company, The Packard Magazine, Volume 9, Number 2, page 6,

        Mine host, it seemed, did favors for everybody...

Usage notes

• My and mine are essentially two forms of the same word, with my being used attributively before the noun, and mine being used in all other cases, as may be seen in most of the usage examples and quotations above. In this respect, this word is analogous to most of the other possessive pronouns (e.g. your vs. yours), as well as a number of other noun modifiers, such as lone/alone.
• Historically, my came to be used only before a consonant sound, and later came to be used regardless of the following sound. Nonetheless, mine still sees archaic pre-vocalic use, as may be seen in the 1862 quotation above, and in the most formal of writing even into the 20th century.

Derived terms

• mine host

Etymology 2

From Middle English, from Old French mine, from Late Latin mina, from Gaulish (compare to Welsh mwyn, Irish mianach (“ore”)), from Proto-Celtic *mēnis (“ore, metal”).

Noun

mine (plural mines)

1. An excavation from which ore or solid minerals are taken, especially one consisting of underground tunnels.

   This diamond comes from a mine in South Africa.

   He came out of the coal mine with a face covered in black.

   Most coal and ore comes from open-pit mines nowadays.

2. (figurative) Any source of wealth or resources.

   She's a mine of information.

   • 1962 December, “Beyond the Channel: U.S.S.R.: Train speeds still rising”, in Modern Railways, page 418:

     To those seeking information about train services on the Continent, Cook's Continental Guide is always a mine of accurate information.

3. (military) A passage dug toward or underneath enemy lines, which is then packed with explosives.
4. (military) A device intended to explode when stepped upon or touched, or when approached by a ship, vehicle, or person.

   His left leg was blown off after he stepped on a mine.

   The warship was destroyed by floating mines.

   • 1940 May, “Overseas Railways: Icebound Denmark”, in Railway Magazine, page 302:

     Pack ice, at times mounting to a height of 35 ft., snow, fog, and floating mines all played their part in the disorganisation of railway services, and most of the train ferry services were completely suspended for a month or more; [...].

5. (pyrotechnics) A type of firework that explodes on the ground, shooting sparks upward.
6. (entomology) The cavity made by a caterpillar while feeding inside a leaf.
7. (computing) A machine or network of machines used to extract units of a cryptocurrency.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

mine (third-person singular simple present mines, present participle mining, simple past and past participle mined)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To remove (rock or ore) from the ground.

   Crater of Diamonds State Park is the only place in the world where visitors can mine their own diamonds.

2. To dig into, for ore or metal.
   • 1837, Andrew Ure, Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines:

     Lead veins have been traced […] but they have not been mined.

3. (transitive) To sow mines (the explosive devices) in (an area).

   We had to slow our advance after the enemy mined the road ahead of us.

4. (transitive) To damage (a vehicle or ship) with a mine (an explosive device).
5. (intransitive) To dig a tunnel or hole; to burrow in the earth.

   the mining cony

6. To dig away, or otherwise remove, the substratum or foundation of; to lay a mine under; to sap; to undermine.
   • a. 1628 (date written), John Hayward, The Life, and Raigne of King Edward the Sixt, London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press, and J. Lichfield at Oxford?] for Iohn Partridge, […], published 1630, →OCLC:

     They mined the walls.

   • 1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh:  […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:

     Too lazy, perhaps, to cut [these immense trees] down, the spoilers […] had mined them, and placed a quantity of gunpowder in the cavity.

7. (by extension, figurative) To ruin or destroy by slow degrees or secret means.
8. (slang) To pick one's nose.
10. (cryptocurrencies) To earn new units of cryptocurrency by doing certain calculations.

    Coordinate term: mint

    • 2021 March 9, Andrew Ross Sorkin, “Bitcoin's Climate Problem”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

      Bitcoin supporters say that estimates of its carbon footprint are overstated. And if the computers that mine and help transact bitcoins are attached to an electric grid that uses wind and solar power, they add, mining and using it will become cleaner over time.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

Borrowed from French mine.

Noun

mine (plural mines)

1. Alternative form of mien

Anagrams

• Emin, Mien, mien

Aromanian mine definition

Pronoun

mine

1. Alternative form of mini

Crimean Gothic mine definition

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *mēnô.

Noun

mine

1. moon
   • 1562, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq:

     Mine. Luna.

Czech mine definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmɪnɛ]
• Rhymes: -ɪnɛ
• Hyphenation: mi‧ne

Verb

mine

1. third-person singular future indicative of minout

Danish mine definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /miːnə/, [ˈmiːnə], [ˈmiːn̩]

Noun

mine c (singular definite minen, plural indefinite miner)

1. look, air, mien
2. (military) mine
3. pit

Inflection

Pronoun

mine

1. (possessive) plural of min

See also

French mine definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /min/

• audio (une mine)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -in
• Homophones: minent, mines

Etymology 1

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *mina, Gaulish *meina (see also Welsh mwyn, Irish míanach (“ore”)), from Proto-Celtic *mēnis (“ore, metal”).

Noun

mine f (plural mines)

1. mine (excavation or explosive)
2. pencil lead
3. (soccer) piledriver, scorcher

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Breton min (“beak, muzzle”) (from Proto-Celtic *mēnis, in the sense of "red")^[1], or from Italian mina, from Latin miniō (“to redden”).^[2]

Noun

mine f (plural mines)

1. appearance, physical aspect; expression

Derived terms

Etymology 3

From miner.

Verb

mine

1. inflection of miner:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “mine”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

References

Anagrams

• mien

Irish mine definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmʲɪnʲə/

Adjective

mine

1. inflection of mion:
   1. genitive feminine singular
   2. comparative degree

Noun

mine f

1. genitive singular of min

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
mine	mhine	not applicable
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Italian mine definition

Noun

mine f

1. plural of mina

Anagrams

• meni

Japanese mine definition

Romanization

mine

1. Rōmaji transcription of みね

Middle Dutch mine definition

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French mine.

Noun

mine f

1. ore vein, mine

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: mijn
• Limburgish: mien

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Determiner

mine

1. inflection of mijn:
   1. feminine nominative/accusative singular
   2. nominative/accusative plural

Further reading

• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “mine (II)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page II

Middle English mine definition

Determiner

mine (subjective pronoun I)

1. Alternative form of min

Pronoun

mine (subjective I)

1. Alternative form of min

Norwegian Bokmål mine definition

Etymology

From Old Norse mínir, or from Old French mine.

Pronunciation

Noun

mine f or m (definite singular mina or minen, indefinite plural miner, definite plural minene)

1. a mine (excavation or explosive)

Derived terms

Determiner

mine

1. plural of min

References

• “mine” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “min” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk mine definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²miːnə/

Etymology 1

From Old Norse mínir, or from Old French mine.

Noun

mine f (definite singular mina, indefinite plural miner, definite plural minene)

1. a mine (excavation or explosive)

Derived terms

• minefelt

Etymology 2

Verb

mine (present tense minar/miner, past tense mina/minte, past participle mina/mint, passive infinitive minast, present participle minande, imperative mine/min)

1. Alternative form of mina

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Determiner

mine

1. plural of min

References

• “mine” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
• “min” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Phuthi mine definition

Etymology

From Proto-Nguni *miná.

Pronoun

miné

1. I, me; first-person singular absolute pronoun.

Portuguese mine definition

Verb

mine

1. inflection of minar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Romanian mine definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmi.ne/
• Rhymes: -ine

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin mē, possibly through a Vulgar Latin root *mēne, or through analogy with cine, from *quene, from quem. It also possibly acquired this ending through adopting the common Latin accusative inflection -inem. Compare tine, sine. Compare also Aromanian mini, Dalmatian main, Neapolitan mene.

Pronoun

mine (stressed accusative form of eu)

1. (direct object, preceded by preposition, such as "pe", "cu", "la", or "pentru") me

   mă iubești pe mine? ― Do you love me?

Related terms

• mă (unstressed form)

See also

• tine
• sine

Etymology 2

Noun

mine

1. plural of mină

Scots mine definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /məin/

Pronoun

mine

1. mine

Scottish Gaelic mine definition

Noun

mine f

1. genitive singular of min

Mutation

Scottish Gaelic mutation
Radical	Lenition
mine	mhine
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Sidamo mine definition

Etymology

From Proto-Cushitic *min- (“house, to build”). Cognates include Oromo mana, Burji mina and Hadiyya mine.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmine/
• Hyphenation: mi‧ne

Noun

mine m (plural minna f)

1. house
2. household

References

• Kazuhiro Kawachi (2007) A grammar of Sidaama (Sidamo), a Cushitic language of Ethiopia, page 62
• Gizaw Shimelis, editor (2007), “mine”, in Sidaama-Amharic-English dictionary, Addis Ababa: Sidama Information and Culture department

Spanish mine definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmine/ [ˈmi.ne]
• Rhymes: -ine
• Syllabification: mi‧ne

Verb

mine

1. inflection of minar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Swazi mine definition

Etymology

From Proto-Nguni *miná.

Pronoun

miné

1. I, me; first-person singular absolute pronoun.