mine

adjective \ ˈmīn \

|Updated on: 15 Jul 2018

Examples: mine in a Sentence

Definition of mine

: my —used before a word beginning with a vowel or h

this treasure in mine arms
—William Shakespeare

or sometimes as a modifier of a preceding noun —archaic except in an elevated style

See mine defined for kids

Origin and Etymology of mine

Middle English min, from Old English mīn — more at my

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

mine

pronoun, singular or plural in construction

Definition of mine

: that which belongs to me —used without a following noun as a pronoun equivalent in meaning to the adjective my

Your eyes are brown and mine are green.

Origin and Etymology of mine

see ¹mine

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

mine

noun

Definition of mine

1 a : a pit or excavation in the earth from which mineral substances are taken

b : an ore deposit

2 : a subterranean passage under an enemy position

3 : an encased explosive that is placed in the ground or in water and set to explode when disturbed

4 : a rich source of supply

See mine defined for English-language learners

Examples of mine in a Sentence

a baseball fanatic who is a mine of fascinating trivia about the game
the soldiers were careful to disarm any mines they found in their path

Recent Examples of mine from the Web

An acquaintance of mine retweeted one of her daily readings into my feed, and I was taken with her simple, subtly political interpretation of the Three of Cups card.

— katie heaney, The Cut, "Does Your Therapy Need More Tarot?," 10 July 2018
Rossi has been a fav of mine since Sons of Anarchy.

— danielle c. belton, The Root, "Marvel's Luke Cage Premiere Party Was Cool and I Was Cool Too For Once," 24 June 2018
An earth tremor has hit the Zofiowka coal mine in the town of Jastrzebie-Zdroj southern Poland, releasing high concentrations of methane gas, and trapping at least five miners below ground.

— jordan blum, Houston Chronicle, "Major methane study complicates plans of oil and gas industry," 21 June 2018
Another good friend of mine in the drag community that's really good at drag costuming is Cee-Cee LaRouge.

— hannah steinkopf-frank, RedEye Chicago, "Drag queen Lucy Stoole's guide to Pride 2018," 21 June 2018
That’s the age of four wooden spears that were uncovered in a coal mine in northern Germany town of Schoningen in 1995 — the oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world.

— john goodspeed, San Antonio Express-News, "German hunting, fishing museum spans history back to the stone age," 14 June 2018
And there are still turquoise mines in the American Southwest in areas that have been mined since pre-Columbian times.

— kiona n. smith, Ars Technica, "New study rethinks pre-Columbian turquoise trade," 14 June 2018
Seven years ago, a dear friend of mine died by suicide.

— danielle campoamor, Marie Claire, "It's Time to Talk About the Media's Role in Rising Suicide Rates," 8 June 2018
The company is holding its position: The discharge of tailings into the river system is an inescapable consequence of keeping the mine in operation.

— danielle bochove, Bloomberg.com, "Giant Waste-Spewing Mine Turns Into a Battleground in Indonesia," 5 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'mine.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of mine

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Vulgar Latin *mina, probably of Celt origin; akin to Welsh mwyn ore

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

mine Synonyms

Synonyms

booby trap;

Related Words

land mine;

torpedo;

bomb, explosive;

hazard, pitfall, snare, trap;

ambush, net, web;

Other Mining and Drilling Terms

ore, trepan, wildcat

mine

verb

Definition of mine

mined; mining

transitive verb

1 a : to dig under to gain access or cause the collapse of (an enemy position)

b : undermine

2 a : to get (something, such as ore) from the earth

b : to extract from a source

information mined from the files

3 : to burrow beneath the surface of

larva that mines leaves

4 : to place military mines in, on, or under

mine a harbor

5 a : to dig into for ore or metal

b : to process for obtaining a natural constituent

mine the air for nitrogen

c : to seek valuable material in

mine old records for more details

6 : to create or obtain more units of (a cryptocurrency) through a cryptographic process

But bitcoins also need to be generated in the first place. Bitcoins are "mined" when you set your Bitcoin client to a mode that has it compete to update the public log of transactions. All the clients set to this mode race to solve a cryptographic puzzle by completing the next "block" of the shared transaction log. Winning the race to complete the next block wins you a 50-Bitcoin prize.
—Tom Simonite

intransitive verb

: to dig a mine

—

miner

noun

See mine defined for English-language learners

Examples of mine in a Sentence

The area was soon filled with prospectors who were mining for gold.
Prospectors mined the region for diamonds.
Local people were hired to mine the gold.
The enemy had mined the harbor.

Recent Examples of mine from the Web

Season 2 of the series was particularly successful in mining the fear and paranoia of an America on the brink of irrevocable change.

— lorraine ali, latimes.com, "Review: 'The Handmaid's Tale' Season 2 finale sets up a compelling new direction for the series," 11 July 2018
That process isn’t absolutely zero-impact, but that must be taken in the context of the effects of mining new bauxite ore, which then still has to be processed into aluminum.

— stacey mckenna, Cincinnati.com, "Recycling is easier — and better for the environment — than you think," 5 July 2018
Comedy is well-known for trading in autobiography, for mining personal experience for harsh truths.

— aja romano, Vox, "Why Hannah Gadsby’s searing comedy special Nanette has upended comedy for good," 5 July 2018
By mining the ever-expanding mountains of e-waste, countries could steel themselves against the volatility in prices and supplies of the global market.

— New York Times, "E-Waste Offers an Economic Opportunity as Well as Toxicity," 5 July 2018
India’s intention of mining the moon for helium-3 was in fact first reported early last year, following comments by Sivathanu Pillai, a professor at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO,) India’s equivalent to NASA.

— david meyer, Fortune, "India's Mission to Find and Mine Futuristic Nuclear Fuel on the Moon Is Moving Ahead," 27 June 2018
Now, President Donald Trump, who finished fewer than 45,000 votes behind Hillary Clinton in Minnesota despite a threadbare effort that saw him visit the state only once, is intent on mining an urban-rural divide to capture the state in 2020.

— chris stirewalt, Fox News, "Like Bush and Obama, Trump gets stuck on immigration," 21 June 2018
In mining the past, Soft Science sees new possibilities rather than a chance to indulge in retro fetishism.

— greg kot, chicagotribune.com, "Soft Science builds dreams amid chaos on 'Maps'," 8 June 2018
The mine was closed two decades ago, bringing to an end a period of mining tin in Cornwall that dates from the Bronze Age and is hinted at in the ancient Greek writings of Herodotus.

— thomas biesheuvel, Bloomberg.com, "Iconic Cornwall Tin Mine Is Planning a London IPO," 14 May 2018

First Known Use of mine

14th century

in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

mine Synonyms

Synonyms

booby-trap;

Related Words

blow up, bomb;

ambush, snare, trap;

attack;

MINE Defined for English Language Learners

mine

noun

Definition of mine for English Language Learners

: a pit or tunnel from which minerals (such as coal, gold, diamonds, etc.) are taken
: a bomb that is placed in the ground or in water and that explodes when it is touched
: a rich source of something (such as information)