Definition of "mince" []

• To cut or chop into very small pieces. (verb-transitive)
• To subdivide (land, for example) into minute parts. (verb-transitive)
• To pronounce in an affected way, as with studied elegance and refinement. (verb-transitive)
• To moderate or restrain (words) for the sake of politeness and decorum; euphemize: Don't mince words: say what you mean. (verb-transitive)
• To walk with very short steps or with exaggerated primness. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "World War II, they mince, is the reason we got out of the Great Depression."
• "So the mince is now turned into bolognaise (very healthy version too - no excess fat whatsoever and none of that ready made bolognaise sauce rubbish) and is happily simmering."
• "Cromwell's Head Tavern, a building which is still standing on the north side of School Street, upon the site of No. 13, where Mrs. Harrington now deals out coffee and "mince" - pie to her customers, Beacon Hill was a collection of pastures, owned by thirteen proprietors, in lots containing from a half to twenty acres each."