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mind

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Etymology

From Middle English minde, münde, ȝemünde, from Old English ġemynd (“memory”), from Proto-West Germanic *mundi, *gamundi, from Proto-Germanic *mundiz, *gamundiz (“memory, remembrance”), from Proto-Indo-European *méntis (“thought”) (compare also mantis, via Greek), from the root *men- (“to think”).

Cognate with Old High German gimunt (“mind, memory”), Danish minde (“memory”), Swedish minne (“memory”), Icelandic minni (“memory, recall, recollection”), Gothic 𐌼𐌿𐌽𐌳𐍃 (munds, “memory, mind”), Latin mēns (“mind, reason”), Sanskrit मनस् (mánas), Ancient Greek μένος (ménos), Albanian mënd (“mind, reason”). Doublet of mantra. Related to Old English myntan (“to mean, intend, purpose, determine, resolve”). More at mint.

Pronunciation

Noun

mind (countable and uncountable, plural minds)

  1. The capability for rational thought.
    Despite advancing age, his mind was still as sharp as ever.
    • 1576, George Whetstone, “The Ortchard of Repentance: […]”, in The Rocke of Regard, […], London: […] [H. Middleton] for Robert Waley, →OCLC; republished in J[ohn] P[ayne] Collier, editor, The Rocke of Regard, […] (Illustrations of Early English Poetry; vol. 2, no. 2), London: Privately printed, [1867?], →OCLC, 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; […]
    • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      “ […] 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.”
  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.
    • 1956, Allen Ginsberg, “Howl”, in Howl and Other Poems (Pocket Poets Series), City Lights Books, →OCLC, page 9:
      I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, […]
    • 2022 November 16, Christian Wolmar, “Can Merriman use his rail knowledge to make a difference?”, in RAIL, number 970, page 45:
      That's far from the promised land set out in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, that the railways would have a guiding mind that would be in control of the industry's finances. Businesses have what is called a profit and loss account, showing both revenue and costs, but the current situation means that the two sides of the system are in different hands - and neither is (as yet) in the hands of a 'guiding mind'.
  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.
    I am of a mind to listen.
    • c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 64, lines 94–99:
      I fortuned to come in,
      Thys rebell to behold,
      Whereof I hym controld;
      But he sayde that he wolde
      Agaynst my mynde and wyll
      In my church hawke styll.
    • 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 nature of the mind is a major topic in philosophy.
    • 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, page 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, chapter V, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC:
      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[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      […] 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.
  10. Continual prayer on a dead person's behalf for a period after their death.
    a month's [or monthly] mind; a year's mind
  11. (uncountable) Attention, consideration or thought.
    • 1849, Eliza Cook, Eliza Cook’s Journal,p.119, volume 1:
      They are the “tars” who give mind to the spreading sail, and their bold courage is the pabulum which will preserve our sea-girt isle in its vernal green to furthest posterity.
    • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:
      Then he, having mind of Beelzebub, the god of flies, fled without a halt homewards; but, falling in the coo's loan, broke two ribs and a collar bone, the whilk misfortune was much blessed to his soul.
    • 2014, Jolie O'Dell, Blogging for Photographers, page 66:
      If you get a “trolling” comment, delete it, do not respond to it, and move forward immediately without paying any further mind.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

  • → Japanese: マインド (maindo)
  • → Malay: minda

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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

  1. To bring or recall to mind; to remember; bear or keep in mind.
  2. (now regional) To remember. [from 14th c.]
  3. (obsolete or dialectal) To remind; put one's mind on.
  4. To turn one's mind to; to observe; to notice.
  5. To regard with attention; to treat as of consequence.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 12:16:
      Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
    • 1907 E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part I, V [Uniform ed., p. 63]:
      It's the worst thing that can ever happen to you in all your life, and you've got to mind it—you've got to mind it. They'll come saying, 'Bear up—trust to time.' No, no; they're wrong. Mind it.
  6. (chiefly imperative) To pay attention or heed to so as to obey; hence to obey; to make sure, to take care (that). [from 17th c.]
    Mind you don't knock that glass over.
  7. (now rare except in phrases) To pay attention to, in the sense of occupying one's mind with, to heed. [from 15th c.]
    You should mind your own business.
  8. To look after, to take care of, especially for a short period of time. [from 17th c.]
    Would you mind my bag for me?
  9. 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.
  10. (now obsolete outside dialect) To purpose, intend, plan.
  11. (UK, Ireland) Take note; used to point out an exception or caveat.
    I'm not very healthy. I do eat fruit sometimes, mind.
  13. (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.
    Do you mind if I smoke?

Conjugation

More information infinitive, present tense ...

† Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

See also

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Chinese

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from English mind.

Pronunciation

Verb

mind

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to mind; to care about

References

  • Bolton, Kingsley; Hutton, Christopher (2005), A Dictionary of Cantonese Slang: The Language of Hong Kong Movies, Street Gangs and City Life, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, →ISBN, page 276
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Danish

Verb

mind

  1. imperative of minde

Estonian

Etymology

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronoun

mind

  1. partitive singular of mina

Hungarian

Old Irish

Scots

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