mind

Etymology

From Middle English minde, münde, ȝemünde, from Old English mynd, ġemynd (“memory, remembrance; memorial, record; act of commemoration; thought, purpose; consciousness, mind, intellect”), from Proto-Germanic *mundiz, *gamundiz (“memory, remembrance”), from Proto-Indo-European *méntis (“thought”), from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think”). Cognate with Old High German gimunt (“mind, memory”), Danish minde (“memory”), Icelandic minni (“memory, recall, recollection”), Gothic 𐌼𐌿𐌽𐌳𐍃 (munds, “memory, mind”), Latin mēns (“mind, reason”), Albanian mënd (“mind, reason”). Related to Old English myntan (“to mean, intend, purpose, determine, resolve”). More at mint.

Pronunciation

• enPR: mīnd, IPA^(key): /maɪnd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪnd
• Homophone: mined

Noun

mind (plural minds)

1. The ability for rational thought.
   • 1576, George Whetstone, “The Ortchard of Repentance: Wherein is Reported the Miseries of Dice, the Mischiefes of Quarelling, and the Fall of Prodigalitie. Wherein is Discovered the Deceits of all Sortes of People. Wherein is Reported the Souden Endes of Foure Notable Cousiners. With Divers Other Discourses Necessarie for All Sortes of Men [...]”, in The Rocke of Regard, Diuided into Foure Parts. [...], Imprinted at London: [By H. Middleton] for Robert Waley, OCLC 837515946; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] Collier, editor, The Rocke of Regard, Diuided into Foure Parts. [...] (Illustrations of Early English Poetry; vol. 2, no. 2), London: Privately printed, [1867?], OCLC 706027473, page 291:

     And ſure, although it was invented to eaſe his mynde of griefe, there be a number of caveats therein to forewarne other young gentlemen to foreſtand with good government their folowing yl fortunes; […]

     #* 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterI:

     “ […] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”

   Despite advancing age, his mind was still as sharp as ever.

2. The ability to be aware of things.

   There was no doubt in his mind that they would win.

3. The ability to remember things.

   My mind just went blank.

4. The ability to focus the thoughts.

   I can’t keep my mind on what I’m doing.

5. Somebody that embodies certain mental qualities.

   He was one of history’s greatest minds.

6. Judgment, opinion, or view.

   He changed his mind after hearing the speech.

7. Desire, inclination, or intention.

   She had a mind to go to Paris.

   I have half a mind to do it myself.

   • 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

     Although Miss Pross, through her long association with a French family, might have known as much of their language as of her own, if she had had a mind, she had no mind in that direction […] So her manner of marketing was to plump a noun-substantive at the head of a shopkeeper without any introduction in the nature of an article […]

8. A healthy mental state.

   I, ______ being of sound mind and body, do hereby […]

   You are losing your mind.

9. (philosophy) The non-material substance or set of processes in which consciousness, perception, affectivity, judgement, thinking, and will are based.

   The mind is a process of the brain.

   • 1699, William Temple, Heads designed for an essay on conversations

     Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.

   • 1854, Samuel Knaggs, Unsoundness of Mind Considered in Relation to the Question of Responsibility for Criminal Acts, p.19:

     The mind is that part of our being which thinks and wills, remembers and reasons; we know nothing of it except from these functions.

   • 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Chapter V

     Thus they dwelled for nearly a year, and in that time Robin Hood often turned over in his mind many means of making an even score with the Sheriff.

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     […] St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.

Verb

mind (third-person singular simple present minds, present participle minding, simple past and past participle minded)

1. (now regional) To remember. [from 14th c.]
   • 1896, A. E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad, XXXVII, lines 25-26:

     The land where I shall mind you not / Is the land where all's forgot.

2. (now rare except in phrases) To attend to, concern oneself with, heed, be mindful of. [from 15th c.]
   • ~1591, Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

     My lord, you nod: you do not mind the play.

   • 2000, George RR Martin, A Storm of Swords, Bantam 2011, page 84:

     Should you ever have a son, Sansa, beat him frequently so he learns to mind you.

   • Addison

     bidding him be a good child, and mind his book

   You should mind your own business.

3. (originally and chiefly in negative or interrogative constructions) To dislike, to object to; to be bothered by. [from 16th c.]

   I wouldn't mind an ice cream right now.

4. To look after, to take care of, especially for a short period of time. [from 17th c.]

   Would you mind my bag for me?

5. (chiefly in the imperative) To make sure, to take care (that). [from 17th c.]

   Mind you don't knock that glass over.

6. To be careful about. [from 18th c.]
   • 2005, Gillie Bolton, Reflective Practice: Writing And Professional Development, →ISBN, page xv:

     Bank Underground Station, London, is built on a curve, leaving a potentially dangerous gap between platform and carriage to trap the unwary. The loudspeaker voice instructs passengers to "Mind the gap": the boundary between train and platform.

7. (Britain, Ireland) Used to make something you have said less strong.

   I'm not very healthy—I do eat fruit sometimes, mind.

8. (obsolete) To have in mind; to intend.
   • Shakespeare

     I mind to tell him plainly what I think.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Beaconsfield to this entry?)

9. (obsolete) To put in mind; to remind.
   • Fuller

     He minded them of the mutability of all earthly things.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of M. Arnold to this entry?)

   • Shakespeare

     I do thee wrong to mind thee of it.

   • William Shakespeare ,Winter's Tale, Act III, Scene II.

     Let me be punished, that have minded you Of what you should forget.

   • Thomas Burnet's The Sacred Theory of the Earth.

     I desire to mind those persons of what Saint Austin hath said.

   • Roger L'Estrange, Fables, of Aesop, and other eminent mythologists.

     This minds me of a cobbling colonel of famous memory.

   • John Locke, Of True and False Ideas.

     I shall only mind him, that the contrary supposition, if it could be proved, is of little use.

See also

• mind on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

mind

1. imperative of minde

Pronoun

mind

1. Partitive singular form of mina: "me"

Etymology

Presumably from mi? (“what?”).^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmind]

• Audio

  (file)

Pronoun

mind

1. all of it

   Mind megettem.- I ate all of it.

Adverb

mind (not comparable)

1. with everyone, all, together (usually of persons)

   Mind összegyűltek a ház előtt. - They all (together) gathered in front of the house.

2. all of them, everyone, each of them (grammatically singular)

   Milyenek a fogaid? - Nem jók, de még mind megvan. - How are your teeth? - They are not perfect, but I still have all of them.

3. continually, continuously (used with comparative form)

   Mind nagyobb igény van erre a szolgáltatásra. - There is more and more demand for this service.

Conjunction

mind

1. (formal) both... and..., as well as

   mind a magánéletben, mind a munkában ― both in private life and in work

References

Etymology

From Old English ġemynd, from Proto-Germanic *gamundiz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɑend/

Noun

mind (plural minds)

1. memory, recollection.
2. mind.

Verb

mind (third-person singular present minds, present participle mindin, past mindit, past participle mindit)

1. To remember.
2. To remind.
3. To mind, care.