Minikin (or Minnikon), subs. (old).—See quots. Also as adj. = diminutive; dainty; delicate.
1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Mingherlina, a daintie lasse, a minnikin, smirking wench.
1605. Shakspeare, Lear, iii. 6, 45. Sleepest, or wakest thou, jolly shepherd, Thy sheep be in the corn; And for one blast of thy minikin mouth, Thy sheep shall take no harm.
1606. Dekker, Newes from Hell [Grosart (1886), ii. 146]. Tickle the next minkin.
1611. Cotgrave, Dictionary, s.v. Mignonnet. A prettie, or young minion; a minikin.
1635. Glapthorne, Hollander, ii. 1. Surely the minikin is enamoured of me.
1656. Muses' Recr. [Hotten], 71. I should begin to call my strings My cattlings, and my minikins.
1667. Pepys, Diary, 18 March. Angling with a minnikin, a gut string varnished over, which keeps it from swelling, and is beyond any hair for strength or smallness.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Minikin, a little man or woman; also the smallest sort of pin.
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Minikin . . . 'What a minikin mouth she has.'
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v., Minnikon.
Minor, subs. (Eton College).—1.
A younger brother.
1864. Eton School Days, vii. 'Let my minor pass, you fellows!' exclaimed Horsham.
2. (old).—A water-closet.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Minor clergy, subs. phr. (old).—Young chimney-sweeps.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.
Mint, subs. (Old Cant).—Money:
also mint-sauce or mint-drops.
c.1420. Palladius, Husbondrie [E. E. T. S.], p. 99. Thees if me spende, or mynt for them receyve.
1573. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65, s.v.
1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all p. 39 (H. Club's Repr. 1874), s.v.
1621. Jonson, Metam. Gipsies. Strike fair at some jewel, That mint may accrue well.
1665. R. Head, English Rogue, Pt. I. ch. v. p. 50 (1874), s.v.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.
1724. E. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1828. Egan, Finish to Tom and Jerry, 53. I not only hope that he gets lots of mint-sauce, etc.
1867. Jas. Greenwood, Unsent. Journeys, xxx. 230. The requisite mint sauce (as that horribly vulgar and slangy B. P. terms money).
1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. . . . When the Hon. T. H. Benton, of Missouri, put his whole strength forward on the floor of Congress and through the press to introduce a gold currency, he accidentally called the latter mint-drops.
Adv. (colloquial).—Plenty of money.—Lex. Bal. (1811); Matsell (1859). Also a mint of money = a big sum.—Grose.
Minx, subs. (old).—1. A woman:
in contempt; and (2) a harlot.
Also minckins.
d.1593. Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, vi. What are you, Mistress Minx.
1597-8. Haughton, A Woman will have her Will [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), x. 509]. How now, you unreverent minx.
1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Magalda, a queane, a harlot, a strumpet, an old trot, a trull or minxe, a gixie.
b.1600. Grim the Collier etc. [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), viii. 436]. Come hither, minx!
1602. Shakspeare, Othello, iii. 3, 475. Lewd minx! Come, go with me apart.
