[mahyn] 
| 1. | a form of the possessive case of I used as a predicate adjective: The yellow sweater is mine. |
| 2. | something that belongs to me: Mine is the red car. |
| 3. | Archaic. my (used before a word beginning with a vowel or a silent h, or following a noun): mine eyes; lady mine. |
[mahyn] noun, verb, mined, min⋅ing.| 1. | an excavation made in the earth for the purpose of extracting ores, coal, precious stones, etc. |
| 2. | a place where such minerals may be obtained, either by excavation or by washing the soil. |
| 3. | a natural deposit of such minerals. |
| 4. | an abundant source; store: a mine of information. |
| 5. | a device containing a charge of explosive in a watertight casing, floating on or moored beneath the surface of the water for the purpose of blowing up an enemy ship that strikes it or passes close by it. |
| 6. | a similar device used on land against personnel or vehicles; land mine. |
| 7. | a subterranean passage made to extend under an enemy's works or position, as for the purpose of securing access or of depositing explosives for blowing up a military position. |
| 8. | a passageway in the parenchyma of a leaf, made by certain insects. |
| 9. | to dig in the earth for the purpose of extracting ores, coal, etc.; make a mine. |
| 10. | to extract coal, ore, or the like, from a mine. |
| 11. | to make subterranean passages. |
| 12. | to place or lay mines, as in military or naval operations. |
| 13. | to dig in (earth, rock, etc.) in order to obtain ores, coal, etc. |
| 14. | to extract (ore, coal, etc.) from a mine. |
| 15. | to avail oneself of or draw useful or valuable material from: to mine every reference book available in writing the term paper. |
| 16. | to use, esp. a natural resource: to mine the nation's forests. |
| 17. | to make subterranean passages in or under; burrow. |
| 18. | to make (passages, tunnels, etc.) by digging or burrowing. |
| 19. | to dig away or remove the foundations of. |
| 20. | to place or lay military or naval mines under: to mine an enemy supply road. |
| 21. | Agriculture. to grow crops in (soil) over an extended time without fertilizing. |
| 22. | to remove (a natural resource) from its source without attempting to replenish it. |
| Mineral Engineer. |
[ahy] pronoun, nominative I, possessive my or mine, objective me; plural nominative we, possessive our or ours, objective us; noun, plural I's.| 1. | the nominative singular pronoun, used by a speaker in referring to himself or herself. |
| 2. | (used to denote the narrator of a literary work written in the first person singular). |
| 3. | Metaphysics. the ego. |
, OCS azŭ, Lith aš, Skt ahám| mine 1 (mīn) n.
v. tr.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin *mīna, probably of Celtic origin.] |
| mine 2 (mīn) pron. (used with a sing. or pl. verb) Used to indicate the one or ones belonging to me: The green gloves are mine. If you can't find your hat, take mine. adj. A possessive form of I Archaic Used instead of my before an initial vowel or the letter h. [Middle English, from Old English mīn; see me-1 in Indo-European roots.] Our Living Language : In Standard English, most possessive pronouns have different forms when used as nouns, or nominals, as in That book is yours, than when used as adjectives, as in That is your book. The two exceptions are his and its, which retain the same form in both usages. The nominal forms all end in -s except for mine. In some Southern U.S. and New England vernacular dialects, all nominal possessive pronouns end in -n, just like mine, as in That book is hern (but not "That's hern book") and Those cookies are ourn. Although forms such as hisn and hern are highly socially stigmatized, from a strictly linguistic standpoint these forms reflect a natural phenomenon in the development of all languages and dialects: Irregular patterns tend to be regularized, thereby eliminating exceptions to language "rules." Further, hisn, hern, ourn, yourn, and theirn have a long history in English. They arose in the Middle English period (c. 1100-1500) by analogy with mine and thine, forms that are older than my and thy and that can be traced to Old English (c. 449-1100). Originally, my and thy were used before nouns beginning with consonant sounds, as in my book, while mine and thine were used before nouns beginning with vowel sounds, as in mine eyes—as a and an still are. This distinction persisted into the 18th century. But as nominal pronouns, mine and thine remained unchanged. This invariant use of -n led to its use for all nominal possessive pronouns (except its, which usually is not used nominally, as in That book is its). In fact, these -n forms may be older than the current standard -s forms, which arose late in the Middle English period, by analogy to his. Most likely, hern, ourn, yourn, and theirn originated somewhere in the central area of southern England, since they can still be found throughout many parts of that region. In the United States, the forms appear to be increasingly confined to older speakers in relatively isolated areas, indicating that these features are at last fading from use. In some Southern-based vernacular dialects, particularly African American Vernacular English, the irregular standard English pattern for nominal possessive forms has been regularized by adding -s to mine, as in That book is mines. See Note at an1. |
"The reason for writing I is ... the orthographic habit in the middle ages of using a 'long i' (that is, j or I) whenever the letter was isolated or formed the last letter of a group; the numeral 'one' was written j or I (and three iij, etc.), just as much as the pronoun." [Otto Jespersen, "Growth and Structure of the English Language," p.233]The form ich or ik, especially before vowels, lingered in northern England until c.1400 and survived in southern dialects until 18c. The dot on the "small" letter -i- began to appear in 11c. L. manuscripts, to distinguish the letter from the stroke of another letter (such as -m- or -n-). Originally a diacritic, it was reduced to a dot with the introduction of Roman type fonts. The basic word for "I" in Japanese is watakushi, but it is not much used. Words that boys usually use are boku (polite) or ore (OH-ray), a rougher word, which can be rude depending on the situation. Girls usually use atashi (a feminine-sounding word) or the neutral watashi, but a tomboy might use boku like boys do.
i
I
The symbol for the element iodine.
iThe symbol for current.
| iodine (ī'ə-dīn') Pronunciation Key
Symbol I A shiny, grayish-black element of the halogen group. It is corrosive and poisonous and occurs in very small amounts in nature except for seaweed, in which it is abundant. Iodine compounds are used in medicine, antiseptics, and dyes. Atomic number 53; atomic weight 126.9045; melting point 113.5°C; boiling point 184.35°C; specific gravity (solid, at 20°C) 4.93; valence 1, 3, 5, 7. See Periodic Table. |
| mine (mīn) Pronunciation Key
An underground excavation in the Earth from which ore, rock, or minerals can be extracted. |
Mine
The process of mining is described in Job 28:1-11. Moses speaks of the mineral wealth of Palestine (Deut. 8:9). Job 28:4 is rightly thus rendered in the Revised Version, "He breaketh open a shaft away from where men sojourn; they are forgotten of the foot [that passeth by]; they hang afar from men, they swing to and fro." These words illustrate ancient mining operations.
mine
in military and naval operations, a usually stationary explosive device that is designed to destroy personnel, ships, or vehicles when the latter come in contact with it. Submarine mines have been in use since the mid-19th century; land mines did not become a significant factor in warfare until a hundred years later.
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