Dictionary

mincemeat en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈmɪnsˌmit/ (General-American)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

An alteration of earlier minced meat; equivalent to mince + meat.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) A mixture of fruit, spices and suet used as a filling for mince pies.
   • And not to rub salt in wounds, when it comes to making mincemeat of the competition, American Joey Chestnut is still top banana. 2015 July 2, Michael Pearson, “6 things to know about hot dog king Joey Chestnut”, in CNN:
2. (countable, rare, uncountable) Minced meat, mince.
3. (countable, qualifier:by analogy, uncountable) A badly cut-up body or parts of a body.
   • Slicing up every man, woman, and child into mincemeat. 2010, The Orbitology, The Book of Godom & Somorrah, →ISBN, page 29:
   • His chest and neck turned into mincemeat. The double chin had been blown away completely, revealing a skeletal jaw and chemically whitened teeth. 2011, Scott Kenemore, Zombie, Ohio: A Tale of the Undead, →ISBN, page 228:
   • This was another phenomenon for which there was no word: someone had reduced the body of another man to mincemeat. 2011, Fred Vargas, An Uncertain Place, →ISBN, page 46:
4. (broadly, countable, uncountable) Something or someone utterly destroyed.
   • Happily for the Lakers, who were mincemeat without him, Nash is back in the nick of time, with the Knicks, who walked all over them in New York two weeks ago, in town for a Christmas Day game. 2012 December 24, Mark Heisler, “After Looking East to the Knicks, Nash Cut West to the Lakers”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 31 May 2015:
   • For the common man in the sixteenth century, a calendar which paced not just the seasons but also the life of Christ would have to be divinely inspired. It would capture his heart and his mind. Pope Gregory's four hundred-year-one would become mincemeat. 2007, Bill Napier, Splintered Icon, →ISBN:
   • Weevil Underwood: My army of insects will make mincemeat out of you! 2002 March 20, Kazuki Takahashi, Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories (PlayStation video game, North American version), Konami:
   • "He said his client had been receiving death threats and he was quite paranoid. "His exact words were: 'I think he's mincemeat by now'." 2007 January 18, “Solicitor thought client was 'mincemeat'”, in The Age:
   • No one was to be spared in this frightful slaughter. The American 34th, 36th Texas, lst Armored, the British, the New Zealanders, the Indians, the Poles and the French, under the brilliant General Juin; all were to be ground to mincemeat by futile attacks against this fortress. 2003, Theresa Deane, 500 Days of Front Line Combat: The WWII Memoir of Ralph B. Schaps, →ISBN:

Forms

Deriveds

mincemeaty · make mincemeat of · make mincemeat out of · mincemeat pie

Synonyms

mince (mixture of fruit and spices) · mince (minced meat) · ground meat (minced meat)

Translations (19)

ga mionra torthaí (mixture of fruit, etc used as a filling) · cmn 百果餡 /百果馅 (mixture of fruit, etc used as a filling) · grc περίκομμα (minced meat) · cmn 果餡 /果馅 (mixture of fruit, etc used as a filling) · pl cień (something or someone utterly destroyed) · fi sekahedelmätäyte (mixture of fruit, etc used as a filling) · sv slarvsylta (something or someone utterly destroyed) · pl mięso mielone (minced meat) · sv köttfärs (minced meat) · gd mions (mixture of fruit, etc used as a filling) · grc ἰσίκιον (minced meat) · cy briwffrwyth (mixture of fruit, etc used as a filling) · la īsicium (minced meat) · cy briwgig (minced meat) · it carne macinata (minced meat) · pl mincemeat (mixture of fruit, etc used as a filling) · la minutal (minced meat) · ko 민스미트 (mixture of fruit, etc used as a filling) · ga ciolar chiot (something or someone utterly destroyed)