Etimology
From Middle English minde, münde, ȝemünde, from Old English mynd, ġemynd (“memory”), from Proto-West Germanic *mundi, *gamundi, from Proto-Germanic *mundiz, *gamundiz (“memory, remembrance”), from Proto-Indo-European *méntis (“thought”) (compare also mantis, via Greek), from the root *men- (“to think”). Cognate with Old High German gimunt (“mind, memory”), Danish minde (“memory”), Swedish minne (“memory”), Icelandic minni (“memory, recall, recollection”), Gothic 𐌼𐌿𐌽𐌳𐍃 (munds, “memory, mind”), Latin mēns (“mind, reason”), Sanskrit मनस् (mánas), Ancient Greek μένος (ménos), Albanian mënd (“mind, reason”). Doublet of mantra. Related to Old English myntan (“to mean, intend, purpose, determine, resolve”). More at mint.
noun
mind (countable and uncountable, plural minds)
The capability for rational thought.
The ability to be aware of things.
The ability to remember things.
The ability to focus the thoughts.
Somebody that embodies certain mental qualities.
Judgment, opinion, or view.
Desire, inclination, or intention.
A healthy mental state.
(philosophy) The non-material substance or set of processes in which consciousness, perception, affectivity, judgement, thinking, and will are based.
Continual prayer on a dead person's behalf for a period after their death.
(uncountable) Attention, consideration or thought.
Examples
Despite advancing age, his mind was still as sharp as ever.
And ſure, although it was invented to eaſe his mynde of griefe, there be a number of caveats therein to forewarne other young gentlemen to foreſtand with good government their folowing yl fortunes; […]
“ […] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”
There was no doubt in his mind that they would win.
My mind just went blank.
I can’t keep my mind on what I’m doing.
He was one of history’s greatest minds.
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, […]
That's far from the promised land set out in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, that the railways would have a guiding mind that would be in control of the industry's finances. Businesses have what is called a profit and loss account, showing both revenue and costs, but the current situation means that the two sides of the system are in different hands - and neither is in the hands of a 'guiding mind'.
He changed his mind after hearing the speech.
She had a mind to go to Paris.
I have half a mind to do it myself.
I am of a mind to listen.
I fortuned to come in,Thys rebell to behold,Whereof I hym controld;But he sayde that he woldeAgaynst my mynde and wyllIn my church hawke styll.
Although Miss Pross, through her long association with a French family, might have known as much of their language as of her own, if she had had a mind, she had no mind in that direction […] So her manner of marketing was to plump a noun-substantive at the head of a shopkeeper without any introduction in the nature of an article […]
I, ______ being of sound mind and body, do hereby […]
You are losing your mind.
The nature of the mind is a major topic in philosophy.
Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.
The mind is that part of our being which thinks and wills, remembers and reasons; we know nothing of it except from these functions.
Thus they dwelled for nearly a year, and in that time Robin Hood often turned over in his mind many means of making an even score with the Sheriff.
[…] St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.
a month's [or monthly] mind; a year's mind
They are the “tars” who give mind to the spreading sail, and their bold courage is the pabulum which will preserve our sea-girt isle in its vernal green to furthest posterity.
Then he, having mind of Beelzebub, the god of flies, fled without a halt homewards; but, falling in the coo's loan, broke two ribs and a collar bone, the whilk misfortune was much blessed to his soul.
If you get a “trolling” comment, delete it, do not respond to it, and move forward immediately without paying any further mind.
Related words
synonyms
(ability for rational thought): brain(s), head, intellect, intelligence, nous, psyche, reason, wit; See also Thesaurus:intelligence
(ability to be aware of things): awareness, consciousness, sentience; See also Thesaurus:awareness
(ability to remember things): memory, recollection; See also Thesaurus:recollection
(ability to focus the thoughts): attention, concentration, focus
(somebody that embodies certain mental qualities): genius, intellectual, thinker; See also Thesaurus:genius
(judgment, opinion, or view): judgment, judgement, idea, opinion, view; See also Thesaurus:judgement
(desire, inclination, or intention): desire, disposition, idea, inclination, intention, mood; See also Thesaurus:desire or Thesaurus:intention
(healthy mental state): sanity; See also Thesaurus:sanity
(process of): cognition, learning
verb
mind (third-person singular simple present minds, present participle minding, simple past and past participle minded)
To bring or recall to mind; to remember; bear or keep in mind.
(now regional) To remember. [from 14th c.]
(obsolete or dialectal) To remind; put one's mind on.
To turn one's mind to; to observe; to notice.
To regard with attention; to treat as of consequence.
(chiefly imperative) To pay attention or heed to so as to obey; hence to obey; to make sure, to take care (that). [from 17th c.]
(now rare except in phrases) To pay attention to, in the sense of occupying one's mind with, to heed. [from 15th c.]
To look after, to take care of, especially for a short period of time. [from 17th c.]
To be careful about. [from 18th c.]
(now obsolete outside dialect) To purpose, intend, plan.
(UK, Ireland) Take note; used to point out an exception or caveat.
(originally and chiefly in negative or interrogative constructions) To dislike, to object to; to be bothered by. [from 16th c.]
Examples
Mind to-morrow's early meeting!
The land where I shall mind you not / Is the land where all's forgot.
Farewell, kind lord; fight valiantly to-day: / And yet I do thee wrong to mind thee of it, / For thou art framed of the firm truth of valour.
Let me be punished, that have minded you Of what you should forget.
I desire to mind those persons of what Saint Austin hath said.
This minds me of a cobbling colonel of famous memory.
I shall only mind him, that the contrary supposition, if it could be proved, is of little use.
He minded them of the mutability of all earthly things.
Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me / For bringing wood in slowly. I'll fall flat; / Perchance he will not mind me.
Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
It's the worst thing that can ever happen to you in all your life, and you've got to mind it—you've got to mind it. They'll come saying, 'Bear up—trust to time.' No, no; they're wrong. Mind it.
Mind you don't knock that glass over.
You should mind your own business.
My lord, you nod: you do not mind the play.
Upon my coming down, I found all the Children of the Family got about my old Friend, and my Landlady herself, who is a notable prating Gossip, engaged in a Conference with him; being mightily pleased with his stroaking her little Boy upon the Head, and bidding him be a good Child and mind his Book.
Should you ever have a son, Sansa, beat him frequently so he learns to mind you.
Would you mind my bag for me?
Bank Underground Station, London, is built on a curve, leaving a potentially dangerous gap between platform and carriage to trap the unwary. The loudspeaker voice instructs passengers to "Mind the gap": the boundary between train and platform.
I mind to tell him plainly what I think.
[…] and if ever I refused to do his bidding or loitered or took my leisure he beat me with his feet more grievously than if I had been beaten with whips. He ceased not to signal with his hand wherever he was minded to go; so I carried him about the island, like a captive slave, and he bepissed and conskited my shoulders and back, dismounting not night nor day; and whenas he wished to sleep he wound his legs about his neck and leaned back and slept awhile, then arose and beat me; whereupon I sprang up in haste, unable to gainsay him because of the pain he inflicted on me.
I'm not very healthy. I do eat fruit sometimes, mind.
I wouldn't mind an ice cream right now.
Do you mind if I smoke?
Related words
synonyms
(remember): See also Thesaurus:remember
(dislike): See also Thesaurus:dislike
(pay attention to): heed; See also Thesaurus:pay attention
(look after): See also Thesaurus:care